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A rare neurological disorder seen that may have been sparked by RSV - MPR News

A rare neurological disorder seen that may have been sparked by RSV - MPR News

A rare neurological disorder seen that may have been sparked by RSV - MPR News
Nov 29, 2022 1 min, 22 secs

It was the first symptom of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes your immune system to attack your nerves.

That weakness, or paralysis, often comes on and ascends, starting at the legs and going up but can start and progress anywhere, Robertson said.

“There's a very wide spectrum of disease, from people with relatively mild courses that have mostly sensory symptoms without a lot of weakness — are able to walk and continue working with some additional assistance — to very, very severe,” he said, explaining that as many as a quarter of patients “have to be put on a ventilator during the worst of the disease.

Though the connection between the two still isn’t proven, Robertson said one hypothesis is that there’s something on that virus — like an abnormal protein — that, in someone who is susceptible to it, triggers this response.

“Something about that virus looks like the myelin, the sheath that covers your nerves,” he said.

“And so when it goes to attack the virus, your immune system does as it's supposed to do.

[Then] all of a sudden, your immune system which previously did not recognize your nerves as abnormal now thinks your nerves are still that virus, and now is causing this immune attack.”.

While his case was fairly mild, and stayed in his hands and feet, the effects were still challenging, like when he tried to dress Norah.

Like, if she moves suddenly or jerks back and forth — which little kids can do a lot — will I have the reflexes and the strength in my hands to hold her and not let her fall?”.

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