I, too, knew someone who came down with Guillain-Barre syndrome. (And I, too, had never heard of it before.) It was a fellow VOA correspondent, based in Moscow. He was recuperating from what (he thought) was a bout of flu. He went out to his car one day, started to get into it, and collapsed. He was completely paralyzed for weeks -- couldn't even blink his eyes, I was told! He was immediately flown out to London for treatment, and never did recuperate enough to go back to his Moscow post (too grueling). Last I saw him, he was still using a cane to get around (which, of course, was better than crutches and/or a wheelchair).
But since the overriding symptom in Guillain-Barre is paralysis, it should be relatively easy for doctors to spot, despite the rarity of the syndrome.
Yet it is interesting that in the "differential diagnosis" section, Merck mentions toxins and botulism as having similar symptoms. Both of those possibilities have been mnentioned here. |
