At a time when Roselyne Bachelot , Minister of Health, gives the example by being vaccinated against influenza A ; we learn that a recently vaccinated young woman is suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disease.
Each year in France, 1,700 to 1,800 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome result in hospitalization, or 5 per day.
This disease affects the nervous system, with the immune system racing and attacking the body's tissues, causing damage. Signs of this disease can range from simple tingling in the limbs to complete paralysis and a life-threatening condition.
You can have Guillain-Barré syndrome because of several things: a viral infection, such as the flu, but also pregnancy or certain diseases such as porphyria are also mentioned. Vaccines have often been suspected, such as that against hepatitis B or in 1976 the vaccine against swine flu in the United States, 500 cases of Guillain-Barre were declared and 25 people died.
If there is nothing proven about the link between this young woman with Guillain-Barré syndrome and her vaccination against influenza A, research is still ongoing on possible infectious causes. Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot "is committed to transparency on the side effects of vaccination against the grip pe A (H1N1)",