Paralysis-causing illness spreads among children in the US

The Illinois Department of Public Health is investigating nine recent cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).

Фото: Depositphotos

According to the statement, all patients are less than 18 years old. State health officials are working with hospitals to get samples that will be sent to the US Centers for Disease and Prevention for testing and confirming diagnoses.

“CDC will make final determinations and numbers may change,” the statement said.

According to the health department, all patients came from “northern Illinois”, but no other location information was provided.

From the 2015 year, when Illinois began monitoring AFM in the state, four confirmed cases were identified.

AFM is a polio-like disease that affects the human nervous system, including the spinal cord. Symptoms may include sudden weakness of the limbs, loss of muscle tone and reflexes, drooping of the face and eyelids, difficulty moving the eyes, difficulty swallowing, or slurred speech, according to the CDC.

This condition can be caused by a virus, a genetic disorder, and environmental toxins.

Фото: Depositphotos

Health officials in Washington state are investigating five possible cases in patients from four different counties. “All cases involve infants and children under six years of age who were reported to have had respiratory symptoms in the week prior to the onset of AFM symptoms,” the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement. All children were hospitalized after experiencing "sudden paralysis of one or more limbs."

The state health department works with the CDC to determine if these are really AFM cases.

Dr. Rachel Herlihy, a Colorado state epidemiologist, said the best prevention is frequent hand washing and home care for children when they are sick.

Фото: Depositphotos

The Colorado Department of Public Health said Tuesday it has confirmed 14 cases this year. All of the patients were children who required hospitalization, the department said, noting that "almost all made a full recovery."

“The State Department of Health has been closely monitoring this situation since early spring. In addition to investigating the outbreak, the state health department has warned health care providers about how to test for viruses and improve the management of child care centers,” the department said in a statement.

Minnesota’s health ministry said on Friday that it had studied six cases of AFM in children over the past few weeks, but didn’t identify which viruses or other causes could lead to illness.

As of September 30, according to the CDC, 16 AFM cases have been confirmed in 38 states. The data does not include the 14 cases reported by Colorado, since some of these cases were confirmed after 30 September. It also did not include cases in Minnesota or Illinois, since they are not confirmed.

Since August 2014, when the CDC began to more closely track the disease, the agency reported 362 cases.

In 2017, the 16 case was registered in the 33 states. 149 cases were reported in 39 states in the 2016 year and 22 cases in the 17 states in 2015 year.

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