CDC convenes task force to investigate rare diseases crippling children across the country

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are poised to investigate a mysterious polio-like illness that cripples young children. Earlier this week, the agency announced the creation of a task force to better treat and confirm the cause of acute flaccid myelitis (AMA), apparently in response to a slight increase in the number of cases this year.

AFM affects the nervous system and damages the region of the spinal cord made up of gray matter. His victims are almost always children, who can develop symptoms such as muscle weakness, difficulty speaking or swallowing and paralysis. According to the CDC, 108 confirmed cases of AFM have been documented in 29 states in 2018 so far, out of a total of 273 reports sent to the CDC. (Some of these potential cases are still under investigation). There has been no reported deaths so far, but the AFM can be fatal.

"I want to reaffirm to our parents, patients and the commitment of our country, the CDC, to this critical illness," said Robert R. Redfield, director of the CDC, on Monday. communicated. "This working group will ensure that the scientific community fully utilizes the capabilities and works together to provide important answers and solutions to actively detect, deal more effectively and ultimately prevent the AFM and its aftermath. . "

Doctors are aware of the existence of AFM, which has historically been caused by a polio virus infection. But with the advent of the polio vaccine and the eventual eradication of polio in the United States, the disease has become extremely rare.

In 2014, however, MFA cases began to be reported much more often, prompting the CDC to monitor it closely. That year, 120 cases were reported. Since then, the AFM has followed a strange pattern, its frequency apparently increasing every two years. In 2015, for example, there were only 22 confirmed cases, compared to 150 cases in 2016. In 2017, the number of cases had dropped again, falling to just 33. This year confirmed the trend, but we still do not know why this is happening.

What we do know is that polio does not cause these new cases of AFM, which has left doctors wondering exactly what it is. In 2014, the outbreak of MFA followed a particularly large outbreak of enterovirus D68, a cousin of the polio virus that usually causes colds. The majority of children with AFM reported respiratory infection or fever just before contracting AFM, which makes them more involved.

The CDC is currently recognizing the likely role of D68 in the AFM, but has not yet unveiled it and fully endorsed it as the primary culprit. This is probably because of the lack of direct evidence. Although doctors found D68 in the cerebrospinal fluid of some patients with AFM, the vast majority of cases showed no evidence of spinal infection with D68 and D68 was not the only virus detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of the patient.

Other physicians, including some of the first to have spotted the AFM in 2014, have recently argued that the growing body of circumstantial evidence, including evidence that current strains of D68 have mutated and look much more similar to the polio virus that they had not been before, is now more than ever. enough to condemn D68. But time will tell if the working group formed by the CDC will agree.