USA TODAY International Edition
Unmasked virus may be key to mystery paralysis in kids
Scientists believe they finally have an answer to acute flaccid myelitis, a mysterious polio- like illness that causes paralysis in children.
A study at the University of California, San Francisco published Monday in the peer- reviewed journal Nature Medicine suggests the devastating disease, also known as AFM, could be caused by a strain of a respiratory virus called enterovirus.
AFM cases are exceedingly rare; fewer than one in 1 million children are affected. But the results are devastating. AFM can paralyze a child’s arms and legs. Some need ventilators to breathe.
Scientists tried to find the “missing” virus but failed with traditional testing methods. Experts remained skeptical after the virus couldn’t be found in 98% of AFM patients and later proposed that the disease may have been caused by an autoimmune disorder.
In the new study, researchers obtained the spinal fluid from 42 children with AFM. Using an enhanced version of a virus- hunting tool, they were able to find antibodies to the enterovirus in nearly 70% of the patients.
Though the study may have solved the case of the “missing virus,” the study acknowledges that many questions remain unanswered. For example, the strains of enteroviruses that were detected in the spinal fluid have never before been able to cause paralysis. Also, the team was unable to find the actual virus and prove it’s the causing agent to AFM.
Researchers say a logical next step should include research into antiviral drugs – and possibly even a vaccine.
Nearly 600 cases in 48 states and the District of Columbia have been confirmed since 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty cases have been confirmed in 2019.