Potential Treatment for Polio-Like Acute Flaccid Myelitis Proves Ineffective | Health Care News

A rare polio-like illness that most often affects children is on the rise across the United States, and a potential treatment for the disease has shown no benefits.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 80 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis have been reported this year in 25 states as of Nov. 2. and more than 100 additional cases are suspected. The illness is a rare condition that affects a person’s nervous system, especially the spinal cord. It causes weakness in the limbs, trouble breathing, drooping eyelids and, in extreme cases, paralysis.

Although the condition is not new, the prevalence of the disease, which began to increase in 2014, is a new occurrence. Its cause remains unknown, though research suggests that a virus known as enterovirus D68 may be a factor.

Researchers have been working toward possible treatments for acute flaccid myelitis. However, a study published Friday in the journal Neurology indicates that one potential treatment shows no signs of efficacy.

In the study, researchers discovered that fluoxetine, a drug used to treat mental illnesses, had antiviral effects against enterovirus D68, so the medication was recommended as a possible treatment.

Researchers administered the drug more than once to 28 children 2 to 9 years old from a dozen U.S. medical centers in 2015 and 2016, while 26 other children received no doses and two children received one dose. The muscle strength in each child was observed to study the efficacy of the drug.

In the first two exams, no difference was seen between the children who received two doses of the drug and the children who received one dose or no dose. Seven months later, however, the children who had received two doses exhibited lower strength than the children who received one dose and the children who received no dose.

Researchers quantified muscle strength of all four limbs on a scale of zero to 20 and determined that the strength of children who received the high dose weakened by 0.2. Additionally, the score among children who received the lower dose and no dose increased by 2.5.

Senior author Dr. Kevin Messacar of Children’s Hospital Colorado said in a press release that the lack of efficacy “emphasizes the need for development and prospective evaluation of more effective treatment and prevention strategies for this potentially devastating condition.”

Forty-three percent of the children participating in the study had an enterovirus in their system. Thirty-six percent had enterovirus D68, and patients treated with fluoxetine “were significantly more likely” to have enterovirus D68, the study stated. Additionally, 91 percent of the children were sick before they developed acute flaccid myelitis, and weakness began an average of 8.5 days after the start of the illness.