A virus that causes polio-like paralysis in children is returned for the article For the named article

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It has a virus that rarely causes polio-like paralysis in children. It reappeared in the US after disappearing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that hsuch as Several cases have been reported associated with enterovirus D-68. Based on recent outbreaks, officials expect that a small percentage of these cases will develop a serious neurological condition known as acute flaccid myelitis.

Over the weekend, the CDC where given Health advice about EV-D68. In the year Since August 2022, doctors and hospitals in various parts of the country have reported to the agency an increase in acute respiratory infections and hospitalizations of children caused by two groups of viruses. Further investigation revealed that some of these cases were caused by EV-D68, and the CDC’s own surveillance data showed a higher rate of respiratory illnesses associated with the virus. This winter compared to the last three years.

EV-D68 is one of several viruses that usually cause the mild common cold, mostly in children. However, it is. To be clear In recent years, the infection can sometimes cause AFM. The virus is a cousin of the polio virus, which is known to cause a similar paralytic disease in 0.1% of victims. And it is. Suspect EV-D68 has recently mutated in a way that is similar to polio and is therefore more likely to cause AFM, although it is still a rare complication.

The main symptoms of AFM are sudden limb weakness, and some experience facial weakness, slurred speech, and pain in their legs and back. In severe cases, people develop life-threatening paralysis that causes respiratory failure, while others may experience permanent paralysis.

There are many possible causes of AFM, including other enteroviruses, but at least the cases seen since 2014 have been particularly closely linked to the EV-D68 outbreak. These outbreaks of EV-D68 and AFM have occurred on a biannual schedule over the past decade, partly because the population’s immune system has weakened enough to allow many children to contract it at once. But this pattern, which predicted another AFM outbreak in 2020, changed after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

While mostly everyone has contracted covid-19 by now, much of the world took precautions during the first years of the pandemic to avoid unnecessary social and physical contact. These efforts may have only slowed down the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, but they were more effective at curbing the transmission of many other, less-contagious infections, EV-D68 included. Many garden variety germplasms have been introduced recently. Storm back Repeatedly, experts have warned that the EV-D68 will eventually follow suit. The virus It tends to be seasonal, arriving in summer as it is now.

There are approximately 700 confirmed cases of AFM. Documented by the CDC since 2014, when the agency began monitoring it regularly. There were years of epidemics in the past 150 to 200 cases of AFM. So far, only 13 cases have been recorded in 2022.. However, the disease occurred weeks after the first symptoms of the common cold, and past AFM outbreaks followed similar outbreaks of EV-D68. In the advisory, the CDC asked doctors to monitor the disease and said “increased vigilance for AFM will be necessary in the coming weeks.”

of The real polio virus did something Unwanted return This summer in the US. In July, a young New Yorker contracted a paralyzing case of polio, and the virus’s presence in the state’s wastewater suggests the potential for further spread. The virus may not spread very far, thanks to a highly effective vaccine High vaccination rate (more than 92 percent nationally), but is dangerous for unvaccinated people. And its return could hamper global efforts to eradicate polio as a human disease.

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