Zika virus detection in urine from patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome on Martinique, January 2016

Abstract

Two cases of Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) were diagnosed in January 2016 on Martinique, a French West Indies island of 390,000 inhabitants. Both patients were found to have ZikV in their urine at hospital admission. An outbreak of Zika virus (ZikV) infections has been ongoing on the island since December 2015 [1] and spread rapidly, with more than 1,000 estimated cases per week in 2016 [2].

ZikV infection is usually benign, when symptomatic. The disease is a dengue-like syndrome, characterised by fever, headache, retro-orbital pain, non-purulent conjunctivitis, maculopapular rash, arthralgia, and myalgia. The symptoms last for four to seven days and are self-limiting. Recent ZikV epidemics in French Polynesia, Brazil and Central America have been associated with Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) outbreaks, the probable link between these two diseases was made based on serological and anamnestic data.