As of Friday, january 31, there were 140 Guillain-Barré Syndrome cases in Pune, four fatalities to date, and 18 people on ventilators. The government claims that the rise in 10 instances compared to the 130 cases recorded the day before is not a result of new cases, but rather a carryover from previous days.

In the meantime, an irregularity discovered during routine testing has put the experts at Pune's National Institute of Virology (NIV) under severe scrutiny as they examine the genome sequence. A Times of india story claims that the water test for Compylobacter jejuni, a bacterium discovered in stool samples from at least five GBS patients in the city, has produced some surprising findings.
 
The riddle surrounding the most crucial question—why has GBS taken on such a violent avatar, increasing the number of patients in the city—was further complicated by the fact that, although C. jejuni was discovered in the human excrement, the NIV scientists were unable to identify them in the water samples.
 
According to the Times of india, Dr. Samapada Patwardhan, the chief microbiologist at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, stated: "Genetic alterations in bacteria might result in heightened virulence, altered immunological responses, or even drug resistance. By identifying any genetic changes that could be making the strain more aggressive or inciting a more powerful immune response, the bacterial genome can be sequenced. This might help us comprehend the severity of some GBS cases in Pune.
 
 After that, NIV will conduct testing to see whether the higher severe strain affected the patients in Pune. Dr. Shahzad Beg Mirza, a microbiologist at Dr. DY Patil Medical College, is also quoted by TOI as stating that the primary mechanism of GBS is "molecular mimicry," in which bacteria take advantage of the similarities between bacterial components and human nerve structures. This can cause the immune system to mistakenly focus its attacks on the nervous system and launch a full-scale assault.
 
According to reports, retired professor and microbiologist Dr. renu Bharadwaj informed the TOI that C. jejuni does not cause GBS in and of itself; rather, it sets off an immunological reaction that targets the nerves. While not everyone who is exposed to C. jejuni will develop GBS, it does set off an immunological reaction that targets the nerves.
 
 

 
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Guillain-Barré Syndrome

SIBY JEYYA

01/02/2025 08:11 AM