Leonhard SE, Tan CY, van der Eijk AA, et al. - The authors conclude that arbovirus infections do occur in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) patients outside of epidemic viral transmission, but not at a higher rate than in controls. In GBS patients, broad infection and anti-ganglioside antibody serology are important in determining the most likely pathogenic trigger.

• Serum samples were tested for recent infection with Zika virus (ZIKV), dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya (CHIKV) virus, hepatitis E virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Campylobacter jejuni, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae, as well as antibodies to glycolipids.

• There were 49 patients from Brazil (63%), Argentina (14%), and Malaysia (22%).

• Evidence of a recent infection was discovered in 27/49 (55%) patients: C jejuni (n = 15, 31%), M pneumoniae (n = 5, 10%), CHIKV (n = 2, 4%), EBV (n = 1, 2%), C jejuni and M pneumoniae (n = 2, 4%), CMV and DENV (n = 1, 2%), and C jejuni and DENV (n = 1, 2%).

• Thirty-five paired controls were collected from 22 patients.

• The odds ratios for recent infections did not differ significantly between cases and controls.

• There was no correlation between recent arbovirus infection and anti-ganglioside antibody binding.