Why You Keep Hearing About Polio Mystery Disease Among Children
The CDC confirmed this week that 62 people, mostly children, have developed acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a condition that weakens their arms and legs. But even though the symptoms are frightening (described as “polio”), this is a very rare condition, and I promise you you don’t need to worry. Doctors and scientists are still figuring out exactly what’s going on. Here are the facts we have right now:
How do we know these kids don’t have real polio?
Because there is a polio test and the CDC says everyone with AFM has tested negative for it so far.
And in general, what is polio?
Until the 1950s, when the first polio vaccines became available, polioviruses were quite common in water and sometimes caused gastrointestinal symptoms (diarrhea, etc.). A small percentage of people infected with the poliovirus develop serious complications, including paralysis. If you’ve seen images of children in black and white photographs with leg braces or sleeping in iron lungs , that’s polio.
Polio itself is rare today. This year, only a few dozen cases have been reported around the world – some from the virus itself, and some from the vaccine, which is completely different .
What are the symptoms?
There really is only one terrible symptom here: weakness and paralysis of the limbs. It happens suddenly. An MRI (the machine that you lie on and guides you through a giant magnetic donut) detects damage to the gray matter of the spinal cord and / or the fluid around the spinal cord contains a certain number of white blood cells that fight infection. … (The CDC provides a detailed definition here .)
What will happen next is not clear. The CDC says, “We know that some patients diagnosed with AFM recovered quickly, and some are still paralyzed and need constant care.”
So far, the majority of cases have been in children with a median age of 4 years.
What is causing this?
Well, this is the mysterious part. Nobody knows. Earlier this year, doctors discovered that AFM could be caused by D68 enterovirus , but now the CDC says that is not enough to explain all the cases they have seen. They are testing patients with AFM, but have not been able to find a common virus.
AFM symptoms are similar not only to polio, but also to rare complications of West Nile virus and other diseases.
Is it new?
It seems, as it were, something like. The first big spike in AFM cases occurred in 2014, when 120 cases were reported across the country. The CDC says it may be related to an outbreak of enterovirus D68 around that time, but it is unclear what is happening this year.
What can I do to protect myself or my children?
This is another mystery because we still don’t know what causes it, and we don’t know who is most at risk. The CDC recommends washing your hands and getting the latest vaccine news, which is just good advice anyway.