An Update from the International Guillain-Barre Study (IGOS) by Dr. Bart Jacobs

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The IGOS-1000 cohort has now been tested for the main preceding infections and is currently tested for antibodies extensively. We have also recently finalized a study in IGOS on the association between GBS and SARS-CoV-2 during the first 3 months of the pandemic. In my view this study shows the importance of having an ongoing global prospective study for GBS like IGOS as I am afraid that after corona, flu and Zika more global infection related to GBS will occur in the future. The same accounts for vaccination campaigns. There many other IGOS related studies on their way to publication in various stages including studies about specific clinical characteristics including about cranial nerve involvement, prognostic model validation and improvement, CSF findings, several on electrophysiology, treatment evaluations and clinical outcome measures. Thanks to the funding of the GBS-CIDP Foundation International we have been able to maintain the coordinating center and recruit new young researchers and statistical support to accommodate future studies. We are also in discussion with various companies with regard to the usage of recent study results to improve the design for future trials and comparative treatment studies in GBS.