According to Dr. Puja Kushwah, Sr. Consultant – Neurosciences, Metro Hospitals & Heart Institute, Noida, “When an immune response to an earlier infection or other incident reacts with similar epitopes on peripheral nerves (a process known as molecular mimicry), it causes GBS. Up to two-thirds of patients give a history of such antecedent events.” Infections by Campylobacter jejuni infection (most common), Cytomegalovirus, Influenza A and B, HIV, COVID-19 Virus and Zika virus are the reasons behind GBS in many patients. “Varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus, hepatitis E, chikungunya virus, Japanese encephalitis virus,” are the uncommon pathogens that cause GBS says Dr Kushwah.
