Mycoplasma pneumoniae-Triggered Guillain-Barré Syndrome in Children: Two Case Reports of Different ICU Presentations

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute immune-mediated polyneuropathy with diverse clinical presentations. Mycoplasma pneumoniae has been increasingly recognized as a potential trigger, particularly in pediatric cases. This case report presents two atypical cases of M. pneumoniae-associated GBS in children in the pediatric intensive care unit setting. The first case involves a 10-year-old boy with pharyngeal-cervical-brachial variant of GBS, presented with descending paralysis and required prolonged mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy. The second case presents a two-year-old boy with ascending GBS complicated by underlying sickle cell anemia. Both cases illustrate that pediatric GBS requires prompt diagnosis and aggressive treatment. In these instances, GBS was linked to M. pneumoniae.