“Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is considered as an extremely rare disease, resembling much more common poliomyelitis. A noticeable increase in the number of cases was first recorded in 2014, after which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States began collecting statistics on AFM. Morbidity peaks usually occurred in August and September. But in 2018, the disease suddenly began to spread at an unprecedented pace. Compared to 21 confirmed diagnoses in 2017, by October of this year, 127 cases of acute flaccid myelitis have been registered," reads the report.
The disease spreads primarily on the west coast of the United States, in the states of Oregon and Washington.
“At the moment, AFM has already been registered in 22 states, and all patients are children under 18 years old - the average age of young patients is four years. According to CDC, the disease will continue to spread. Like poliomyelitis, acute flaccid myelitis affects the gray matter of the spinal cord, often causing lifelong muscle paralysis," reads the report.
Unlike poliomyelitis, there is no vaccine for AFM prevention, and there are no drugs to treat it.
Photo source: picture from an open source