infectious polyneuritis
A patient with infectious polyneuritis receives physical therapy for leg weakness.
Noun: - A neurological disorder: A specific form of peripheral polyneuritis (inflammation of multiple peripheral nerves) marked by symptoms including pain, weakness, and in some cases, paralysis of the limbs. Its cause is not definitively known.
- Medical Diagnosis/Description: Used primarily in medical contexts to name and describe this specific neurological condition.
- The patient was diagnosed with infectious polyneuritis after presenting with ascending weakness and sensory loss.
- Research into the etiology of infectious polyneuritis continues, as the cause remains idiopathic.
- Clinical Context: The term is often used interchangeably with or is a historical name for Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an acute autoimmune disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system.
- The case study described a classic presentation of what was once called infectious polyneuritis, now more commonly referred to as Guillain-Barré syndrome.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS): The modern, more precise term for the condition historically labeled infectious polyneuritis.
- Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP): The most common subtype of GBS.
- Polyneuritis: A broader term for inflammation of multiple peripheral nerves.
- Polyneuropathy: A general term for dysfunction of multiple peripheral nerves.
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Acute idiopathic polyneuritis (emphasizes the unknown cause)
- Landry's ascending paralysis (a historical term describing a similar presentation)
While the term contains "infectious," it is somewhat of a historical misnomer. The condition is not directly contagious from person to person. The name likely originated from the observation that symptoms often follow a bacterial or viral infection, suggesting an infectious trigger for an autoimmune response, even though the exact cause ("etiology") is classified as unknown or idiopathic.
A patient with infectious polyneuritis receives physical therapy for leg weakness.
- a form of peripheral polyneuritis characterized by pain and weakness and sometimes paralysis of the limbs; cause is unknown