Post by Joanna on Jan 16, 2015 0:36:28 GMT -5
Mystery Illness Affects Children Across US
A mysterious illness possibly related to enterovirus 68 has sickened more than 100 children across the US since August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have dubbed the new disease acute flaccid myelitis, and the chief symptom is limb weakness or paralysis. Only one of the 103 children who has developed the condition has fully recovered. Two-thirds show some kind of improvement, but a full third show none, the CDC said. Each week, three new cases are reported to the CDC.
The cases began clustering at Children's Hospital Colorado in August. Most of the patients had abnormal spinal fluids and had had a respiratory illness or fever before their paralysis symptoms began. As of November, the CDC had confirmed 88 cases in 32 states, with the median age of patients at 7.6 years. "It's unsatisfying to have an illness and not know what caused it," Dr. Samuel Dominguez, an epidemiologist and an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado, said.
It is believed AFM may be linked to enterovirus 68, a respiratory infection that infected children across the country last fall, though spinal fluid taken from 71 patients did not have any enteroviruses or pathogens present. Polio, which causes limb paralysis, is usually found in the spinal fluid or stool. A new antibody test, which will look for evidence of the body fighting enterovirus 68, has been developed. Though unexplained paralysis cases pop up every year, they aren't usually clustered like they have been in recent months.
While the cause is still unknown for AFM, the CDC said that being up to date on vaccines "is essential to prevent a number of severe diseases," as is good hygiene.
Source: Meredith Engel, New York Daily News, January 15, 2015.