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Lindsey Bever
Generalist journalist covering national news
When Orville Young ran to her mother, Elaine Young, to deliver the mail, she noticed that he was using his non-dominant hand.
A seemingly insignificant detail, but this prompted the mother of Minnesota to think: her 3-year-old son had developed a cough and runny nose during the July 4 vacation, but she and her 6-year-old son Orville's time his sister was sick too, so she figured that Orville had just caught their cold. It was not until nearly two weeks later – when everyone was recovering and Orville had a fever – that she started to worry.
Young said she was considering taking her son to the doctor on the morning of July 12, when she noticed that his right-handed toddler was using his left hand. Her right arm, she said, was hanging by her side.
Orville Young, age 4, was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis. (Elaine Young)
"I said," Hey buddy, can you lift your other arm? Young remembered, asking him. She said that her son seemed confused. He said, "I can not. "
"I was panicked," she said in a telephone interview on Monday at the Washington Post. She said she called a neighbor, shouting that her son was paralyzed and that she needed someone to monitor her daughter while she was driving him to the emergency room.
Then she called her husband, frantic, and told him what had happened.
[A mysterious polio-like illness that paralyzes people may be surging this year]
Since the CDC began monitoring the AFM in 2014, 362 cases have been reported in the United States, 38 of which were reported this year in 16 states. This prompted the Minnesota Department of Health to issue an alert last week, stating that in recent weeks, six cases have been reported among children across the state.
He stated:
MDH disease investigators are working hard with health care providers to gather case information. The department is also in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to share information.
For reasons that are not fully understood, the AFM mainly affects children. All recent cases in Minnesota involve children under 10 and have all been hospitalized. Cases have been reported in twin cities, central Minnesota and northeastern Minnesota.
Investigators believe that this disease was related to the occurrence of respiratory disease in children, caused by a virus known as enterovirus D 68 (EVD68). Minnesota has seen three AFM cases this year. Since then, we have generally seen less than one case a year.
The CDC states that the AFM is targeting the spinal cord, which can result in muscle weakness. Symptoms may include weakness of the facial muscles, considered looseness; problems with the movement of eyes or drooping eyelids ingestion problems; or speech disorder.
In rare cases, said the CDC, it can cause numbness, tingling and pain in the extremities, urination problems, paralysis, respiratory failure and death.
Marc Patterson, a pediatric neurologist at Mayo Clinic, told The Post that, like polio, the AFM is caused by enteroviruses – a collection of viruses that usually cause mild symptoms, such as problems with life. stomach or no symptoms.
In some patients – perhaps those with genetic predispositions – these viruses can invade the nervous system, resulting in conditions such as AFM.
Patterson stated that there was no vaccine against enteroviruses (except for polioviruses) and that AFM treatment was simply a supportive treatment. After the diagnosis, doctors may prescribe physical therapy to help with recovery and, in some cases, surgery to repair the nerves.
When asked why it would seem that MFA cases have increased across the United States in recent years, Mr. Patterson said that "there could be a number of factors." it may be that doctors are now better able to recognize the signs.
[More cases reported of a mysterious polio-like illness that killed a 6-year-old]
Young, from Minneapolis, said she had heard about AFM at the 2014 cluster in California, where she and her family were living at the time.
In July, Young said, doctors in the Minneapolis emergency room told him that his son was probably suffering from an inflammation caused by a virus and tried to send them home. But then the doctors decided to admit the toddler and have an MRI. She said that the images of the spine have confirmed her fears: AFM. Her son received steroids for several days and was released from the hospital, she said.
At worst, Young said, his son could not move his right shoulder, elbow, or arm; he would move his fingers, but they were weak.
He had also lost control of his muscles in the torso, leaning to one side because he was unable to stand up, Young said. And because his right leg had also become weak, his parents had to support him while he was trying to walk.
Orville Young. (Elaine Young)
Since August, Orville, who is now 4 years old, is following a professional and physical therapy at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul. According to his recovery, he may need surgery later this year to regain muscle function, his mother said. Young said his son was still struggling to use his right arm – but he's so eager to hold objects in his right hand, then use his left arm to move it.
Looking back, Young said it was "insulating and scary".
Young said that it was thought that Orville was the first child to have been diagnosed with MFA in the recent cluster in Minnesota. Her husband and she did not have anyone who could understand what they were living.
After the ordeal, she said, she began contacting other relatives of the state to let them know that the Young family had understood.
"We want them to know that they are not alone," Young said.
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