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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about the spread of a common childhood virus that can cause muscle weakness or paralysis in rare cases. In July and August, the CDC says hospitals detected an increase in infections caused by enterovirus D68. The number is now the biggest seen since 2018 when the agency tracked the last wave of summer and fall infections caused by the virus. Which most commonly leads to respiratory illness among kids, with symptoms that are often mild but can become severe both EV-D68 and poliovirus can invade the nervous system and cause muscle weakness.
Some people who experience AFM have difficulty moving their arms, while others experience weakness in all four extremities. During a large outbreak in the U.S. in 2014, around 10% of people with EV-D68 went on to develop AFM.EV-D68 can result in a condition called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, which is inflammation in the neck region of the spinal cord. Some people who experience AFM have difficulty moving their arms, while others experience weakness in all four extremities.
In 2018, there were 238 reports of acute flaccid myelitis to the CDC, which are believed to be caused by spikes in the virus. There’s been no increase in such paralysis observed so far this year, the agency says but as the virus spreads, there’s growing concern that it’s only a matter of time. The CDC this year has identified more EV-D68 cases among children with severe respiratory illness than in the past three years combined. A CDC spokesperson said that reports can take up to a month to be added to the agency’s acute flaccid myelitis tally, given the time it takes to review each patient’s medical records.
Several reports of acute flaccid myelitis associated with the virus have since been reported in Europe, that study’s corresponding author, Kimberley Benschop of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, told CBS News. The virus has spreaded rapidly and it is hard to keep children from spreading it because children are messy.
Greenberg said cases are most likely rising again this year because children are back in school and other public spaces. All seven pediatric medical centers affiliated with the CDC’s New Vaccine Surveillance Network — in Nashville, Tennessee; Houston; Kansas City, Missouri; Cincinnati; Seattle; Pittsburgh; and Rochester, New York — have detected cases of EV-D68 this year.
The CDC said it had also received reports of increases in severe respiratory illness among children in Minnesota, Arizona, and Utah, raising concerns that some of those infections might be EV-D68, as well. Scientists first identified enterovirus D68 in 1962. At the time, the virus wasn’t circulating much, and it resulted in milder illness than it does today, Greenberg said. Enteroviruses are so closely related to rhinoviruses that they are “indistinguishable from one another” on most tests run by doctors, the CDC warns and can be confused for each other. Keep your kids safe and germ-free be careful at all times and watch your kids around other children and always make sure they are washing their hands.
By: Kenzayla Harris
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