Vaccine-induced GB Syndrome prevalent, says doctor

The long-term effects of Covid on the heart are now being identified. Among patients who had Covid-19, the risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease may be increased due to myocardial stress or hypercoagulable state associated with Covid-19, said Dr Narasimha Pai, consultant, cardiology at KMC Hospital.

While no direct causal mechanism has been established between Covid-19 and CV disease, limited data suggest that patients who had Covid-19 may have a higher risk of CV disease when compared with patients who did not have Covid-19. These cardiac problems can be diagnosed by blood tests and heart scans (Echocardiogram), he said.

Dr Shivananda Pai, Consultant, Neurology, KMC Hospital, said that although increased reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome have been observed following mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, rare cases of GBS have been reported following vaccinations with adenovirus vector Covid-19 vaccines.

As it is an immune-mediated disease, it is difficult to predict how GBS after the Covid virus or the vaccine has developed. This does not signify that it was caused by Covid– 19 vaccines alone. Other vaccines like influenza vaccine, rabies vaccine, or any vaccine for that matter can produce a hyper-immune response and produce GB syndrome, he said.

“After a majority of people are vaccinated, we are noticing some cases of vaccine-induced GB syndrome. Before Covid-19, there were at least 4-5 cases, now it has increased to 10 to 12 cases which is prevalent in the different age groups. The major age group we see this is the 25-40 age group. This age group has a hyper immune system and they react and recover faster too,” he added.