A case of Guillain-Barre syndrome following a family outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis

We describe an outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis involving three f amily members of whom one developed Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). The pati ents' serum reacted strongly with several gangliosides and with the lipopol ysaccharide (LPS) fractions from the C. jejuni strains isolated from his fa mily members. Only low titer anti-ganglioside antibodies were found in his siblings. HLA-typing did not indicate a locus associated with auto-antibody production. Comparing the immune response in GBS patients and C. jejuni en teritis patients can be of great value in determining the additional factor s that lead to post-Campylobacter GBS. Ganglioside mimicry alone is necessa ry but not sufficient for the induction of anti-ganglioside antibodies. Oth er susceptibility factors are required to induce an anti-neural immune resp onse. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.