Association between neurological syndromes and Arbovirus in Buenos Aires - Relationship between Guillain Barre Syndrome, Encephalitis and Myelitis with Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya (P4.6-024)

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the association between Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), Infectious Encephalitis (IE) and Transverse Myelitis (TM) with secondary infections to arboviruses in hospitalized patients of Buenos Aires city.

Background: Arbovirus infections are currently considered a pandemic in Argentina. There was a significant increase in the incidence of these infections during the 2014–2016 period, compared to previous years. Viruses such as Zika (ZIKV), Dengue (DENV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) have been associated with different neurological syndromes, mainly with GBS and to a lesser extent with IE and TM.

Design/Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study, including all adult patients diagnosed with GBS, IE and TM, attended at our institution from 1/1/17 to 12/31/17. Samples of serum and / or cerebrospinal fluid were obtained. ELISA test was performed to detect antibodies against ZIKV, DENV and CHIKV. Clinical-epidemiological variables and complementary methods of both groups were recorded. We compared the GBS incidence results obtained in 2017 with respect to those presented in the last 10 years of our institution.

Results: We included 39 patients with diagnosis of GBS (n=17), IE (n=18) and TM (n=4).

2 cases of GBS presented positive serology for ZIKV and 2 cases of IE presented positivity for DENV.

During the period from 2015–2017, there was an increase in the incidence of GBS cases compared to previous years.

Conclusions: In the present cohort, the incidence of cases of GBS, IE and MTA associated with arbovirus infections was relatively low. However, the cases associated with arbovirus infections showed differential clinical characteristics. We believe that epidemiological surveillance of neurological syndromes associated with arbovirus infections is essential to understand the magnitude of the problem at a national and regional level.