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A mysterious neurological disease called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has made headlines in recent weeks. Officials have investigated several suspected cases in Minnesota and Colorado. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that there had been a confirmation of 38 cases in 16 states in 2018 so far.
Read on for an overview of the disease and what you should know about it.
What is acute flaccid myelitis?
The AFM has an impact on "the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which weakens the muscles and reflexes of the body," says the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Most patients with AFM notice sudden muscle weakness in their limbs and loss of reflexes. They may also experience droopy eyelids, facial sagging, and slurred speech, among other symptoms.
"In very rare cases, it is possible that the process in the body that triggers the AFM also triggers other serious neurological complications that can lead to death," according to the CDC.
What can the disease cause?
According to the agency, people can contract the AFM, including exposure to toxins in the air, to genetic factors or to viruses such as poliovirus, nonpolio enteroviruses, adenoviruses, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus.
However, it can be difficult to determine how patients actually get an AFM.
"Often, despite extensive laboratory testing, the cause of a patient's AFM is unidentified," says the CDC.
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How many cases have there been?
The CDC claims to have received information on 362 cases of the disease in the United States from August 2014 to August 2018.
This year alone, from January to September, 38 cases were confirmed in 16 different states, according to the agency.
"Even with an increase in the number of cases since 2014, MFA remains a very rare disease. In the United States, less than one in a million people receive AFM every year, "says the CDC.
Minnesota has seen an increase in the number of suspected cases of MFA in recent weeks.
Health officials "are investigating six suspected cases of MFA" in the state Tuesday to date, Minnesota Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz told Fox News. According to a press release of October 5, all these patients were under 10 years old and were hospitalized around mid-September.
According to Schultz, two other suspected cases of MFA were reported in the state earlier this year.
Shannon Barbare, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told Fox News that there had been 14 confirmed cases of MFA in the state since the beginning of the year – although it is not clear if all these cases were included in the last report of the CDC. .
"On AFM cases, 11 have been tested positive for enterovirus A71, one positive for enterovirus D68 and two positive for enterovirus," said the department Tuesday in a statement. an online statement. Enterovirus A71 and enterovirus D68 are non-polio enterovirus types.
"Although all patients have been hospitalized, they are almost completely cured," said the department. "There were no deaths."
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Should you be concerned?
Dr. Rachel Herlihy, an epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, told Fox News that most cases confirmed in 2018 in Colorado occurred between mid-August and September. The majority was in the Greater Denver area, she added.
Herlihy has called enterovirus A71 and enterovirus D68 "rarer strains" of the enterovirus.
Enterovirus outbreaks usually occur in summer and early fall – so this is the time of year when we expect to see "enterovirus cases," she said. declared.
Herlihy noted that it is "quite rare" to suffer from neurological complications such as AFM, encephalitis and enterovirus meningitis.
Most people will rather experience a cold, a rash, a diarrhea or a foot-and-mouth disease, as well as foot-and-mouth disease, a she explained.
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