Spotlight: Guillain-Barré syndrome

Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a disease that primarily affects the peripheral nerves (those that control our senses and movement) mainly in the hands, limbs and feet but also includes the facial nerve. It is named after two French neurologists, George Guillain and Jean Alexandre Barré, who met as medical students in Paris, who together with another French physician, Andre Strohl, served in the French Army during WW1. On 13 October 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, a meeting was held between the physicians to discuss symptoms of lower limb weakness seen in two soldiers. The weaknes...