A total of 62 cases of acute flaccid paralysis have been reported in the United States since the start of the year. Of unknown origin, this disease which affects the spinal cord leads to generally transient paralysis of the limbs.
Acute flaccid paralysis is a rare disease that affects fewer than one in a million people each year in the United States. It affects the nervous system, in particular the spinal cord, causing weakness in one or more limbs that can go as far as paralysis. Last year, a child died from this disease.
386 cases in four years
Between 2014 and September 2018, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the authority that monitors outbreaks and intervenes to contain them, has totaled 386 confirmed cases of acute flaccid paralysis.
The CDC has tried to find out what causes the onset of the disease. But no pathogen was consistently detected in the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid, which would be good evidence to indicate the cause of acute flaccid paralysis since this condition affects the spinal cord.
“It’s a mystery”
The origin of acute flaccid paralysis remains undetermined. The peaks in the appearance of this disease, this year as in 2014 and 2016, appeared at the end of the summer. However, the enterovirus and the rhinovirus, which are potential causes of the appearance of this rare disease, cannot explain these peaks at the end of summer. The geographical factor is also ruled out since the cases are distributed in 22 of the 50 American states.
“It’s a mystery,” concludes Nancy Messonnier, director of the national center for vaccinations and respiratory diseases. The CDC suspects other causes of acute flaccid paralysis. Environmental pollutants and genetic factors are singled out, without any concrete evidence.
Since the end of September, six new cases of children with acute flaccid paralysis have appeared in the state of Minnesota, located on the Canadian border in the northeast of the United States. A worrying situation given the vagueness surrounding this disease. “Since we don’t know how the disease is transmitted, it is difficult to say if there will be other cases,” said the Minnesota Department of Health.
Six children in Minnesota have been diagnosed with a rare “polio-like” illness called acute flaccid myelitis, state health officials say https://t.co/B2ZTk3nQyz pic.twitter.com/YHhfWgZvph
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 7, 2018
It’s not about polio
The sudden onset of the increase in cases in 2014 is also a mystery. “We do not know who is most at risk of developing acute flaccid paralysis, or the reasons that can cause it. We do not understand its long-term consequences”, admitted Nancy Messonnier. “Parents should be aware that this disease is very rare, even with the current increase in the number of cases.”
However, the CDC has confirmed that it is not the polio virus, which can also cause paralysis and even be fatal if the brain and organs of the respiratory system are affected.
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