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Case report
Guillain‐Barré syndrome presenting with facial diplegia following COVID‐19 vaccination in two patients
  1. Gorande Kanabar1,2 and
  2. Phil Wilkinson3
  1. 1Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage, UK
  2. 2Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK
  3. 3Department of Neurology, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Gorande Kanabar; gkanabar{at}nhs.net

Abstract

In March 2020, the WHO declared COVID‐19 to be a global pandemic and since December 2020, millions of vaccines have been administered. To date, cases of Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS) following a COVID vaccine (Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, AstraZeneca) have been reported. A 61-year-old woman developed bilateral asymmetrical lower motor neuron (LMN) facial weakness followed by limb symptoms, 10 days after receiving the first dose of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. The second patient was a 56-year-old man who, 9 days after receiving first dose of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, developed bilateral asymmetrical LMN facial weakness with limb symptoms. Intravenous immunoglobulin was administered with rapid recovery. These cases of GBS following the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine add to cohort of patients reported. We flag up to raise awareness of this condition post‐COVID‐19 vaccine and highlight the prominent bifacial involvement. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin led to rapid recovery.

  • clinical neurophysiology
  • peripheral nerve disease

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2021-244527

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors GK contributed towards writing the summary, figure, case 2, discussion and references. PW contributed towards writing case 1.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.