[EANF-01] GBS in Asia

[EANF-01-3] Guillain-Barré syndrome in Bangladesh - An overview

Md Badrul Islam^1,2, Zhahirul Islam¹, Hubert P. Endtz^1,2,3, Quazi D. Mohammad⁴, Bart Jacobs⁵ (1.The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, (icddr,b), Bangladesh, 2.Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Centre, The Netherlands, 3.Fondation Mérieux, France, 4.National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Bangladesh, 5.Departments of Neurology and Immunology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, The Netherlands)

There are regional variations in the clinical features of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) and Miller Fisher syndrome are more frequently seen in the east Asia including Japan than in the western countries. In particular, AMAN type is reported to be far more frequent in Bangladesh than in the other regions. Expensive thrapies such as IVIg and plasmapheresis are not always available in the developing countries. In this symposium, clinical features and therapies of GBS in several Asian countries ( Korea, China and Bangladesh) will be reported. Such information should be useful for Japanese neurologists.

Md. Badrul Islam was born on January 20th 1978 in Mymenshingh; Bangladesh. He completed his secondary and higher secondary school in the year 1997 and graduated from the Dhaka Medical College in 2004. He found neurology to be the most interesting and involved in a research project on Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) and guided by the Dutch GBS study group. Eventually he was trained in neurophysiology and officially enrolled as a PhD student in the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Netherlands in 2012. His PhD cohort of GBS patients is one of the largest GBS cohorts in the world. He attended several courses, meetings and conferences around the globe and presented his research findings on GBS. During his training, he gathered substantial insight in the field of clinical presentation, diagnosis, neuro-electrophysiological spectrum, outcome and treatment of patients with GBS in Bangladesh. Most importantly he developed a cost effective technique of bedside plasma removal, the Small Volume Plasma Exchange (SVPE) for the developing countries where traditional immunotherapies are not available. He loves reading books and a fan of “Nazrul Geety”.