Mystery disease that paralyzes kids may flourish this winter
In 2018, there could be a record number of cases of the mysterious disease Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM).
To Karl Kuban, professor of pediatrics and neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine, the rare but incurable disease that has paralyzed at least 116 people in 31 states in 2018—most of them under age 18—is grimly familiar.
The majority of AFM patients are children and Kuban has treated a few with the illness. “The outcome was poor, in that the neurological paralysis… left them with a permanent disability,” comparable to polio, he says. AFM attacks gray matter in the spinal cord, weakening the patient’s muscles and reflexes.
It’s possible that 2018 could surpass the 149 cases the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) logged in 2016. The CDC, which began tracking the illness four years ago after its first major outbreak, is investigating another 170 possible cases of AFM this year beyond the confirmed ones. The highest incidence has been in Colorado (15 cases) and Texas (14). Massachusetts has seen two confirmed cases.
Because viruses that also cause polio and West Nile disease can cause AFM, the CDC suggests as prevention measures that parents and children get the polio vaccination and observe precautions against mosquitoes that can carry West Nile (such as staying indoors at dusk and dawn during mosquito season and wearing repellent).
Here, Kuban, who also is co-chief of pediatric neurology at Boston Medical Center, explains why he’s not surprised by the current surge of cases, the state of the search for a cure, and why this problem may get worse this coming winter before it gets better.
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