Dozens of children paralyzed: an unknown disease worries American doctors

The public health advisory issued in mid-October by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is enough to call out: dozens of children have been victims this year a sudden and often irreversible paralysis of the face, neck or body, without the exact causes being established for the time being.

Identified under the name "acute flaccid myelitis", this unknown pathology focuses the attention of health professionals.

What is it about ?

"Acute flaccid myelitis" or "acute flaccid paralysis" is a serious illness, close to poliowho suddenly attacks the nervous system of some children as a result of a minor infection, such as a cold or a fever spurt.

Symptoms progress gradually, about a week after the first peak of temperature. Touched to the spinal cord, the young patient loses the mobility of all or part of his body : he can no longer move his eyes and / or keep them open, has trouble swallowing or talking, moving his legs or arms … In more than one case out of two, this paralysis or lower muscle tone is irreversible and for all patients, the complications are serious.

Where does the disease come from?

To date, several tracks have been studied by the doctors but no precise cause would have been established. At first, polio and West Nile virus had been suspected, to no avail. henceforth, doctors are studying the track of an enterovirus, called EV-D68, which, in most people, causes symptoms of colds, but which, in rare cases, could cause a much more serious attack.

Nevertheless, no tangible proof for the moment validates this hypothesis.

Could the disease be caused by a germ of a new genus? An unknown virus? Why does it only affect children? Are some populations more at risk than others? Many questions remain unanswered. More worrying: without an accurate diagnosis, it is impossible at present to subject patients to a specific DMARD. Only the symptoms can be relieved on a case by case basis.

Who is concerned ?

Although rare (less than 1 in 1 million cases), the disease is closely monitored by US health authorities. Its evolution has been identified by successive "waves" in recent years by the CDC. Each time, the disease peaks in late summer or early autumn: 120 cases in 2014, almost none in 2015, 149 cases in 2016, almost none in 2017 … This year, at least 90 children were infected in the United States. Another 160 are still under study, "some of them could join the countdown," say CDC officials in a statement.

In Europe, a report in 2016 identified 29 cases (in 12 countries) of "acute flaccid myelitis" badociated with Enterovirus EV-D68, again in late summer and early autumn.