Serologic evidence of Campylobacter jejuni/coli enteritis in patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome

R. Gruenewald, A. H. Ropper, H. Lior, J. Chan, R. Lee and V. S. Molinaro
Enteric Bacteriology Laboratory, St Elizabeth's Hospital, Boston, MA 02135.

We performed serologic testing for Campylobacter jejuni in 17 consecutive patients with acute Guillain-Barre syndrome from the Boston, Mass area to compare the frequency of this preceding infection with the high rates reported from other areas of the world. The rate of seropositivity, 18%, was considerable, but it was lower than that reported in Australia. Moreover, all of our patients with definite serologic evidence of infection had severe enteritis before Guillain-Barre syndrome, usually with the organism cultured from stool samples. Campylobacter enteritis is an important antecedent illness for Guillain-Barre syndrome but did not precipitate the disease without enteritis.

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