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August 2015 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
New Clues In Polio-like Paralysis
In Children
Curious outbreak sparks search for new
subspecies of virus
By Angela S. Hoover,
Staff Writer
Last year, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)
could not explain a curious outbreak
of paralysis among children. More
than 100 U.S. children in 34 states
were mysteriously stricken with acute
flaccid myelitis, which causes muscle
weakness or paralysis in the arms or
legs. The condition, a common sign
of polio, is characterized by the rapid
onset of extreme muscle weakness
and loss of muscle tone.
The 120 cases of acute flaccid
paralysis coincided with an outbreak
of a respiratory disease caused by the
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enterovirus EV-D68, which is also
related to the polio viruses. EV-D68
can cause respiratory illness similar
to the common cold in some cases.
The CDC assumed the children’s
paralysis was caused by a viral infection because acute flaccid myelitis
has been linked to EV-D68, although
the virus typically results in respiratory syndrome rather than systemic
disease. However, only 20 percent of
children with acute flaccid myelitis
tested positive for EV-D68. Yet it was
not clear if the EV-D68 virus was the
cause of the paralysis.
A new study conducted at the
University of Virginia School of
Medicine suggests a new strain of a
polio-like virus could be the culprit.
One case of paralysis in a 6-year-old
girl was li