ab226013

Guillain-Barré syndrome following hepatitis B vaccination

M. Khamaisi¹, Y. Shoenfeld^2,3, H. Orbach⁴

¹Department of Internal Medicine B and the Diabetes Center, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem; ²Department of Medicine "B" and Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University; ³Incumbent of the Laura-Schwartz-Kipp Chair for Research on Autoimmune Diseases, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv; ⁴Department of Internal Medicine B, Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.

ABSTRACT
A 52-year-old woman developed Guillain-Barré syndrome 10 weeks after immunization with recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. Common infectious causes of GBS were ruled out. The temporal relationship between GBS and hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination was suggestive of a vaccine-induced cause. The possible mechanisms of this very rare complication are discussed.

Key words
Immunization, vaccination, polyradiculoneuropathy, Guillain Barre syndrome, Engerix, recombinant vaccine.

The authors do not have a commercial or other association that might pose a conflict of interest.
Please address correspondence to: Mogher Khamaisi, MD, PhD, Internal Medicine B Department, Hadassah University Hospital, POB 12000, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel.
E-mail: mogher@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
murir@hadassah.org.il