With a polio-like disease spreading in the country, a similar disease strikes near her home | New

A mother in central Tennessee wants to put a face to this polio-like disease that spreads the nation after her son learned that something similar was happening.

It is called transverse myelitis. Unlike acute flaccid myelitis, it can not spread. But the symptoms are similar and the long-term effects can be just as upsetting.

"It was a Friday," said Haylee Bush of a day she will not forget soon. In a few hours, his son went from flu-like symptoms to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. "It is [wasn’t] move and he could not sit upright. "

At the age of 10 months, her son Declan was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, paralyzed from the neck to the feet.

"It's a disease whose cause is usually unknown – sometimes infections," says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, "which also causes inflammation of the spinal cord."

According to Dr. Schaffner, although transverse myelitis falls under the same roof as the AFM, there is one essential difference.

"Transverse myelitis is rare and sporadic," he said. "It does not seem to be contagious or widespread, whereas acute myelitis is flaccid, if you have a case, you are wondering right away: are we going to have another case in our community, in our county or in our state? ? "

"Both diseases for the individual patient are serious diseases and have serious consequences."

The cause of these two diseases remains a mystery, but as the experts say, Bush wants other families to know what it looks like.

"We constantly call her" polio-like illness, "" polio-like symptoms, "she said," but she has a name and belongs to the myelitis category. "

"I'm going to be honest, I just wanted to get rid of the flu, but my husband was like," He does not move his arms. Pay attention! He does not move his arms. "I think we had the chance to get him caught so quickly."

According to Dr. Schaffner, the AFM is not contagious in that it is transmitted from person to person. The virus, which resembles polio, is transmitted by the disease and the CDC tries to determine what causes the paralysis of some children who catch it.

So far, 106 confirmed cases of MFA have been reported in the United States this year.

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