Klobuchar, health officials call for greater AFM case



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Sen. Amy Klobuchar and State Health Leaders on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 AFM, the polio-like disorder Minnesota children this year

Mandatory reporting by doctors and hospitals to improve the understanding and understanding of the mysterious, paralyzing condition, according to a top Minnesota infectious disease official. West Nile Virus and Influenza, but not for AFM.

"That's something that needs to change," said Kristen Ehresmann, infectious disease division director at the state Health Department, said at a forum organized by Klobuchar.

Parents of afflicted children, arguing that the underreporting and limited information has made it easier for them to understand their lives, and to get their diagnoses.

"We have learned more about these cases from Facebook and support groups than from the CDC," said Mehdi Ayouche of Chanhassen, whose daughter died in the fall of the same year.

While he was recovering, Ayouche said he was affected by AFM after a cold, while his twin brother was not affected.

AFM is a condition in which damage to the spinal cord causes lost mobility, usually in the arms and legs, almost always in children. Severe cases have impaired patients' control of the stomach muscles that support eating and breathing. Common cold viruses seem to be involved, but not all, of the AFM cases this year.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 150 suspected cases of AFM this year, though only 62 have been confirmed. It remains a rare condition that afflicts less than one in one million children.

Ehresmann said mandatory national reporting would have been so few cases, and because doctors would not even have agreed-upon definition. But the surge in reported cases has generated enough information about AFM to conduct more thorough tracking.

Elaine Young of Minneapolis said her son, Orville, contracted AFM in July and is not among the six cases confirmed by the state Health Department. (A seventh case remains unconfirmed.) She told Klobuchar that underreporting could result in diminished medical, insurance, and educational resources for children with AFM.

Most children with AFM regain some mobility through physical therapy or surgeries, studies show. But only a quarter fully recover.

Klobuchar said mandatory reporting of future cases, along with a review of old cases that were not diagnosed as AFM, would improve understanding of the growth and epidemiology of the condition.

She said she would like to see the CDC for more information, but they hoped that they would be able to help them.

"Maybe," she said, "we could help the nation by trying to figure this out."

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