Guillain–Barré Syndrome had a third researcher, but his name disappeared: what’s the mystery

According to the US federal government’s National Library of Medicine, “for more than half a century, Landry was eponymous with the disease”. The GBS Support Group of the UK adds that “the term ‘Landry’s ascending paralysis” was first used in 1876. The usual treatment was with strychnine (a type of poison), which probably did the unfortunate patients more harm than good.”

Who were Guillain and Barré, after whom the syndrome is named?

Georges Guillain, whose father was an engineer and mother the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, began to study medicine in his hometown, Rouen in France. He worked with several hospitals in Paris and became the head of the Neurology Centre of the sixth French Army during World War 1. It was while serving in the war that he met Jean-Alexandre Barré.

Barré, who was going to be a surgeon before being introduced to the world of neurology, is also well-known for the Barré test, which is still used in neurological practice.

Completing the trio was Strohl, who was conducting radiological examinations while serving in the French army. In 1916, Strohl showed how a radiological imaging technique could be used to find a bullet lodged in the body of a person.

Guillain, Barré and Strohl published a paper in 1916 about two French soldiers who were suffering from partial paralysis and muscle weakening. “The cause of the condition was left unanswered…” says the GBS Support Group of the UK.

The omission

It was in 1927 that the term GBS was first used in a presentation – and a mystery was born. Barré introduced the presentation but – in a case that baffles scholars – Strohl’s name was omitted. His name was also removed from the list of authors in the 1916 paper.

“So, while Guillian and Barré continue to receive recognition, spare a thought for poor, neglected Strohl, whom history has ignored. Consider, too, the work of Landry, the victim of an early death from an illness he contracted from his own patients,” says GBS Support Group of the UK.

An article in the National Library of Medicine, by Lukasz Rzepiński and Andrzej Grzybowski, says that “despite the passage of time, the real reasons for Strohl’s ostracism are shrouded in mystery”.

The article says that according to some scholars, “there was a possible political context for dropping Strohl’s name from the eponym. Strohl’s parents came from Alsace – a heavily German province in France, his surname was German and his mentor, Professor Weiss, was also of Alsatian origin. All these could have made Strohl a victim of the anti-German mood prevailing in France at that time. Nevertheless, by joining the French army during WWI at his own request, despite fragile health, Strohl definitely proved his patriotism…we strongly encourage the common use of Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome instead of GBS.”