COVID-19 VS GBS
SECTION B GBS POST COVID AND POST JANSSEN
LAST week, I introduced a series on Covid-19 and GBS (Guillain Barre Syndrome).
GBS is a rare neurological condition in which a person’s own immune system mistakenly attacks part of the peripheral nerve system’s protective coating.
The damage includes the nerve network outside of the spinal cord and brain. The disease can range from mild to severe, with symptoms from brief weakness to paralysis, and some people die of it. Most recover, even including the most severe cases
The real cause is unknown but a number of factors have been noted among them after a viral infection like Covid-19 itself and in some rare cases even after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine especially one which uses a viral vector mechanism like Janssen.
So today in section B we will proceed to look at some documented cases of GBS after Covid-19 infection and then finally in particular after inoculation with the Johnson &Johnson vaccine (Janssen).
POST COVID
There have been a few documented cases were some people have suffered from GBS after a bout of Covid-19. Notable cases were reported from three hospitals in northern Italy sometime between February 28 and March 21, 2020.
During that period, an estimated 1, 000 to 1, 200 patients with Covid-19 were admitted to these hospitals. Out of these five are said to have developed GBS.
The first symptoms of GBS were lower-limb weakness and paresthesia (impaired sensation usually burning or tingling) in four patients and facial diplegia (paralysis of both sides of the face) followed by ataxia and paresthesia in one patient.
Generalised paralysis is said to have evolved over 36 hours to four days in four patients; three of them ended up on ventilation.
The interval between the onset of symptoms of Covid-19 and the first symptoms of GBS syndrome ranged five to 10 days. After four weeks of treatment with immunotherapy and phsyio, two still remained in ICU still on ventilation.
Two were undergoing rehabilitative physiotherapy and one had made full recovery. The cause for the onset of GBS is thought to be the overactive immune system that is also responsible for the cytokine storm that makes most people with severe Covid-19 to end up in ICU.
POST JANSSEN JAB
The topic on side effects of vaccines or just vaccines in general has been a controversial one. A lot of theories especially conspiracy ones have been formed and propagated by Antivax movements and others.
For example there are claims that vaccination is just a way of putting microchips in peoples’ bodies so that they can be easily controlled and manipulated like robots by the governments under the new world order.
Some have exaggerated the reports on some adverse effects, warning that the vaccines are not safe after all.
The truth is that information on vaccines and some potential side effects after inoculation is well documented on official sites of most of the reliable sources such as World Health Organisation (WHO), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), European Medical Agency (EMA), Food and Drug Administration(FDA), reputable universities, Ministry of Health (MOH) etc.
As a matter of fact, the topic concerning GBS and J and J jab was mainly brought to light after American’s FDA and CDC decided to include GBS as a very rare but possible outcome following the jab sometime in July 2021.
Most of the cases were reported in the US, not so much in Europe and yet to hear some from Africa let alone Zambia.
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