Cases of Mysterious Polio-Like Illness Continue to Rise. And Experts Are Frustrated Over a Lack of Answers

A rare, polio-like illness continues to spread across the United States, puzzling and concerning health officials who are investigating the mysterious condition. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a total of 72 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in 24 states, including clusters in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Colorado. Ninety percent of confirmed diagnoses were in children younger than 18, according to the CDC. The agency is investigating another 119 patients in connection with the disease, which causes symptoms including sudden arm and leg weakness, loss of muscle tone, facial weakness or drooping and difficulty swallowing or speaking. In severe cases, AFM can lead to paralysis, respiratory failure or even death. AFM is exceedingly rare, each year affecting less than one in a million people in the U.S., the CDC says. Nonetheless, the disease has been on the rise ever since an outbreak in 2014. Since then, diagnoses have spiked in alternating years: There were 120 confirmed cases in 2014, 22 in 2015, 149 in 2016 and 33 in 2017, according to CDC records. Officials have been investigating AFM since at least 2014, to little avail. It’s often not possible to determine what causes AFM, though it can follow infections from poliovirus and non-polio enteroviruses, West Nile virus and adenoviruses. Environmental toxins may also be to blame, the CDC says. “While we know that these can cause AFM, we have not been ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime Infectious Disease onetime Source Type: news