Mumbai: Nerve Disorder Cases Spike By 30-50% So Far This Year

Doctors and health experts in Mumbai are raising concern over a significant rise of a rare neurological disorder in patients who have encountered viral infections recently. The disorder is known as Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). The incidence, according to doctors, is at least 30 to 50% higher than what is generally observed during the monsoon season, when GBS cases tend to modestly increase.

This disorder causes the immune system to mistakenly attack parts of the peripheral nervous system leading to paralysis. As the nerves are attacked, GBS starts off as mild muscle weakness, numbness, or tingling before slowly advancing to paralysis and necessitating long-term recovery. GBS can be fatal if the symptoms are not well managed, despite the fact that there is no permanent cure for it.

According to neurologists, there has been a large increase in both hospitalizations and outpatient cases. For instance, the city-run BYL Nair Hospital treated over 15 GBS cases in a single month, and six patients are still receiving treatment there. Since July, private hospitals like Tardeo's Bhatia Hospital and Andheri's Kokilaben Hospital have each treated over a dozen cases, and Fortis and Lilavati Hospitals are currently treating three to five patients. Numerous of these patients needed a ventilator. The good news is that no fatalities have been recorded by any of these hospitals.

This monsoon, have you experienced any viral infections? Even if you recover, there are still grounds to be concerned because doctors have identified some examples of a rare nerve illness in which your immune system may unintentionally attack certain portions of your peripheral nervous system, causing paralysis.

Doctors say the 30 to 50 % rise in GBS cases might also be due to COVID or related vaccination. 

Although the precise cause of the high numbers is yet unknown, doctors think it is likely that stomach infections are also a factor in the disease. As the nerves are attacked, the illness frequently results in muscle wasting, numbness, or tingling. It eventually leads to paralysis and calls for extensive rehabilitation.

After doctors determined that the majority of patients also had a history of travel, a rise in instances was apparent.

According to doctors, many patients who were suffering from Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy or AIDP and Acute Motor Axonal Neuropathy or AMAN variants, which affect the protective covering of nerves and cause them to lose nerve signals, also received plasma exchange therapy in addition to ventilators.

Signs & Symptoms:

Guillain-Barre syndrome frequently starts with a mild tingling and weakness that first affects your legs and feet before moving up to your arms and upper torso.

Additional signs include:

1. A pins and needles sensation in your fingers, toes, ankles or wrists

2. Weakness that begins in the legs and spreads to the upper body

3. Unsteady walking

4. Inability to climb stairs

5. Difficulty with facial movements and speaking

6. Double vision

7. Inability to move the eyes

8. Severe pain

9. Difficulty with bladder control or bowel function

10. Rapid heart rate

11. Low or high blood pressure

12. Breathlessness

13. Paralysis