Fears over virus after young girl left unable to walk

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl is baffling doctors after a common virus mutated, attacked her body and left her unable to walk.

Paige Gibson first complained of a headache and lack of appetite three months ago, thinking it was merely a common cold, but she has not been able to walk since.

The schoolgirl, from Stoneyburn, West Lothian, returned home on Christmas Eve for the first time since being taken to hospital in September, but was yesterday taken back to the Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh for treatment.

She was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis (ASM) after a common virus attacked her spinal cord.

Her mother Alana Miller said: “She was a normal little girl, running around with no health problems whatsoever. Then she started showing signs of being poorly – being off her food and having a headache. The following day her legs wouldn’t work.

“We are three months on from this happening and they can’t tell me if it’s permanent. The hardest part is not knowing – it’s a terrifying thought that this is forever.

There have been 36 cases of the virus – Entereovirus D68 – in Scotland this year, more than double last year’s tally, with the vast majority of children suffering from severe cold symptoms at the worst.

But Paige is believed to be one of three young patients currently being treated for paralysis at the Sick Kids – and doctors do not know if it is permanent.

Awareness of the condition is growing in the UK after hundreds of cases were documented in America – and so far reports suggest no child has ever fully recovered from the paralysis.