The CDC warns of the polio virus that strikes more children

TUESDAY, Oct. 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) – A rare but devastating virus, similar to polio, seems to have returned home to the United States, partially paralyzing hundreds of children.

So far this year, 127 cases have been reported in 22 states, including 62 confirmed with acute flaccid myelitis, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease Control and Prevention Centers. diseases of the United States. She announced the numbers during a briefing with the media on Tuesday.

This year's epidemic marks the third wave of acute flaccid myelitis (MAF) to hit the United States since 2014, and this wave is poised to be the worst, experts say.

Even more troubling, the actual number of cases could be even higher. A recent CNN The report revealed that 30 states were investigating 47 confirmed cases and 49 other suspected cases.

MFA cases tend to start in August, peak in October and gradually decline in December, according to the CDC.

"We need to pay attention, because the long-term consequences for children and their parents are immense," said Dr. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a specialist in neurological diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Baltimore. "You can not imagine how much suffering these children have suffered in their lives."

The viral culprits?

Acute flaccid myelitis first appeared in 2014, when 120 children in 34 US states were struck by mysterious muscular weakness.

Another wave hit in 2016, with 149 patients affected in 39 states.

The syndrome is suspected to be caused by one or more viruses. The enterovirus (EV) D68, a virus of the same family as polio, is the main suspect, having been closely linked to the 2014 outbreak, Pardo-Villamizar said.

But according to Dr. Keith Van Haren, "it is likely that it can be associated with other viruses." He is an assistant professor and neurologist for children at the Stanford University School of Medicine. A research team led by Van Haren was the first to link in 2015 acute flaccid myelitis to EV D68.

But an epidemic of the current syndrome in Colorado has been associated with the A71 enterovirus, a much more prevalent strain in Southeast Asia, said Dr. Samuel Dominguez, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California. Colorado Children's Hospital.