73 affected in Guillain-Barre Syndrome outbreak in Pune, 14 put on ventilator

Pune: Alerts from three Pune hospitals to local authorities last Monday about a higher-than-usual occurrence of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare but treatable autoimmune disease, blew up into an unprecedented cluster of 73 cases by Friday - almost trebling in four days from the initial 26 cases that caused alarm. No GBS-induced death has been reported. Although GBS is known to occur in communities, large hospitals typically admit 1-2 cases a month.

Fourteen of the patients hospitalised over the past week were on ventilator support as health authorities in Maharashtra started door-to-door surveys, looking for signs of infection and raising awarness about GBS. Officials said municipal and district health workers surveyed about 7,200 homes in two days.

Experts said the pathogenic bacteria Campylobacter jejuni was a known trigger for GBS, in which the patient's immune system attacks the nerves. The recent detection of the pathogen in stool samples from multiple hospitals adds to evidence linking this bacteria to the outbreak.

Concern about the spread deepened with reports of an infant and a toddler being among new cases. Health experts and doctors suspect the cluster formed on Jan 9, with the first patient to be admitted being an eight-year-old boy.

Union health ministry's Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) has taken cognisance of rising GBS cases in Pune and decided to send a team of doctors to assist local authorities. Healthcare facilities, including Sassoon Hospital, are stocking up on injectables and medicines required to combat the outbreak. The hospital is treating 16 GBS patients.

Of the 73 GBS patients reported till Friday, 44 are in Pune rural, 11 in Pune Corporation area and 15 in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation belt. The highest number of patients are from Kirkitwadi (14), DSK Vishwa (8), Nanded city (7) and Khadakwasala (6). Three patients are under five, 18 between six and 15, and seven above 60.

Dr Babita Kamalapurkar, joint director of epidemiology dept, briefed the CSU about the patient profiles. She said surveyors were telling people that the symptoms to look out for were numbness of limbs and prolonged diarrhoea.