Originally Posted by glenntaj

--that ten months would be a long time after a known infection for an autoimmune molecular mimicry process to start. The antibiotic regimen might be a more likely culprit through direct toxic mechanisms. Many toxic neuropathies have acute and global onset.

That being said, there are some who seem to have evidence of molecular mimicry and don't even remember having an infection, or may have had a "cold" or something else they just dismiss as unimportant--and it turns out the "cold" was an Epstein Barr or other human herpes virus infection; a number of these have been implicated in acute onset neuropathies. The "cold" may not have even produced severe symptoms (not everyone with Epstein Barr winds up with mononucleosis), but it just so happens that whateve pathogen invaded had a shape that resembles some aspect of nerve, and the activated immune system, which works very much on shape--antibodies and macrophages 'smother' pathogens by fitting into protein cavities, like a key in a lock--cannot distinguish friend from foe.

Ciguatera, which Mrs. D mentions, is a double whammy--there are direct toxins produced and the organism also seems to have a shape that may be very close to some people's nerve components. It's likely there are other pathogens out there that do that too, and are as yet undocumented.