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(CNN) – This year, more than half of US states have had confirmed or possible cases of acute flaccid myelitis, a polio-like disease that can cause paralysis and affect mainly children, according to a new CNN analysis.
CNN contacted the health departments in each state; 48 states responded, plus the District of Columbia. Of these, 30 states reported having confirmed, suspected, or investigated cases – of which 15 reported confirming cases in 2018.
In total, CNN found 47 confirmed cases and 49 other suspects, or one under investigation, for a total of 96.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which only publishes confirmed figures, reported that 16 states had 38 cases by September 30. They do not identify them.
CNN found that Colorado had 14 confirmed cases, more than any other state, followed by Texas with eight and Minnesota with six.
States reporting confirmed cases are Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.
States reporting suspected or investigated cases are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Washington.
Acute flaccid myelitis, also called AFM, is a rare but serious condition that affects the nervous system, with a particular focus on the gray matter of the spinal cord. According to the CDC, it affects less than one in a million people every year in the country.
The agency has seen an increase in the number of cases since August 2014. Although the cause remains mysterious in most cases, the jump of 2014 coincided with "a national epidemic of serious respiratory disease caused by the enterovirus D68", although this has not been the case. found in all patients, according to the CDC.
Other enteroviruses have also been discovered in patients with AFM. For example, 11 of the AFM cases in Colorado this year have been tested positive for EV A71, a rare type of enterovirus rarely seen in the United States, rather than in Asia and around the world. , according to Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist.
"The most common etiology is probably a viral infection that triggers the process, and there are probably several different viruses that can cause flaccid acute myelitis," said Dr. Samuel Dominguez, medical director of the Clinical Microbiology Lab's # 39; Children's Hospital of Colorado.
In addition to viruses, potential causes may include environmental toxins and genetic disorders, according to the CDC, and it may "be difficult to diagnose because it shares many of the same symptoms as other neurological diseases". This is not a reportable disease in all states.
Symptoms may include sudden limb weakness, loss of muscle tone and reflexes, loss of face and eyelids, difficulty in moving eyes, difficulty swallowing, slurred speech, and the most serious cases, difficulty breathing, according to the CDC. What happens to patients in the end is unclear; some are recovering quickly, others may need long-term care.
According to the National Institutes of Health, there is no specific treatment for AFM, but the treatments that have been tried include immunoglobulin replacement therapy, corticosteroids, plasma exchange and treatment antiviral.
"It's a relatively uncommon syndrome, so I think it should reassure people," Dominguez said. "This is probably a rare complication of a common virus."
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