AFM: The scary polio-like illness
It is a scary illness, not just for parents but for doctors, too: Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) causes sudden weakness and loss of muscle tone in the arms and legs and can go on to cause even more serious problems.
It’s not just the symptoms that are scary. It’s also scary because we don’t know what causes it. Although the symptoms are similar to polio, patients with AFM have tested negative for polio. At one point it was thought that it was caused by another enterovirus, but that didn’t end up being the explanation. It may be another virus, or it may be some sort of toxin, or something else entirely — or perhaps a combination of factors.
What we do (and don’t) know about AFM
We know that AFM is more common in children, and we know that cases spike in summer and fall. We know that the symptoms are like those caused by viruses such as enterovirus, adenovirus, or West Nile virus, but after that there’s not much we know. Because we have been following this illness only since 2014, we don’t know the long-term effects of it either. Some patients recover quickly and completely, but for others the weakness doesn’t go away.
AFM symptoms
The symptoms of AFM include:
weakness in the arms or legs or both
loss of muscle tone in the arms or legs or both. This means that not only are the arms or legs weak, they seem looser or floppier than usual.
In some cases, symptoms can also include:
weakness of the muscles of the face, which may cause the face to droop
trouble movin...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Neurological conditions Parenting Source Type: blogs
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