NFT: As if 2020 cannot get any worse, AFM

Federal health officials are asking parents and health care workers to be on the lookout for symptoms of a mysterious paralyzing illness among children ahead of an anticipated seasonal outbreak over the next several months.

The polio-like illness is called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, and tends to peak every other year in the U.S. The last surge in cases was in 2018 when a record 238 cases were reported in 42 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In that year, 35% of patients weren’t hospitalized until two or more days after showing signs of limb weakness, hindering the chances of early detection and of children making a full recovery, the CDC said.

“AFM can progress rapidly over the course of hours or days, leading to permanent paralysis and/or the life-threatening complication of respiratory failure in previously healthy patients, so delays in care can be serious,” the CDC said in an advisory released Tuesday.

“Parents and doctors should suspect AFM in patients with sudden limb weakness, especially during August through November,” the CDC added. “Recent respiratory illness or fever and the presence of neck or back pain or any neurologic symptom should heighten their concern.”

There is no proven treatment, test or prevention method for AFM, which had its first known peak of 120 cases in the U.S. only in 2014.

Most patients have had a fever and/or respiratory illness approximately six days before showing signs of limb weakness. Nearly all patients, or 98%, were hospitalized, and just over half were admitted to an intensive care unit. Of those hospitalized, a quarter required a ventilator, the CDC said.


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