Guillain-Barré Syndrome Risk More Likely From Flu Than Vaccine

By Julie Stachowiak, PhD
Multiple Sclerosis Guide; Guest blogger

Are you worried about the potential side effects from a swine flu (H1N1) vaccine, including Guillain-Barré syndrome? Are you considering “playing it safe” by skipping the vaccine and taking your chances on catching H1N1? Most experts think that this is a very, very bad idea.

According to a British virologist, Dr. Mike Skinner, "Even if you take the worst case scenario, from the vaccine and from the infection, you’re something like a thousandfold better off with the vaccine than you would be from the infection."

Dr. Skinner is referring to the tenuous link between Guillain-Barré syndrome and the flu vaccine of 1976. He says that the connection between Guillain-Barré syndrome and the flu shot of 1976 was motivated by pressure on the legal system and would probably not succeed in the courts today, as the cause and effect relationship has never been definitively proven. In fact, Dr. Skinner asserts that people are much more likely to get the condition from an infection with the flu than they are from the vaccine. Experts note that adverse reactions to the new vaccine are extremely rare.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune condition that attacks the peripheral nervous system. It has been known to cause paralysis or death in very rare cases. For anyone who is really interested in Guillain-Barré syndrome, Joseph Heller (the author of Catch-22), chronicles his bout with the disease in his book, No Laughing Matter. I actually read this book several years ago and found it fascinating and pretty scary.

Read more about Guillain-Barré syndrome from About.com's Rare Diseases site: Guillain-Barré Syndrome

Source: Ellis O. Swine flu vaccine is a "thousandfold" safer than the infection, say experts. BMJ 2009;339:b3802