It seemed that 6-year-old Spencer Hill was battling symptoms
of a common cold until suddenly he started struggling to walk and move his
arms.
Then he couldn’t write and his legs began giving out.
“You see your child, who likes to run and play,” Serena
Hill, the Tennessee boy’s mother, told WRCB. “All of a sudden, ‘Mommy I can’t
zip my pants. I can’t write.’ Then you see him fall and his legs give out. It
is absolutely terrifying.”
Spencer is among the 62 confirmed cases across 22 states of
acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) investigating 65 additional more. According to his mother,
he’s been in a children’s hospital in Atlanta since last month and has spent
the last three weeks working on his fine motor skills while receiving intense
steroid infusions to stop the spread of paralysis.
About 90 percent of the confirmed cases involve children who
have suffered muscle weakness or paralysis, including in the face, neck, back
or limbs. The symptoms tend to appear about a week after exhibiting a fever or
respiratory illness.
On Tuesday, CDC officials said they haven’t found a cause in
the recent spike of cases, which is similar to patterns reported in 2014 and
2016. On its website, the agency lists viruses, environmental toxins and
genetic disorders as possible causes of AFM. It also lists West Nile virus,
adenoviruses, poliovirus, and non-polio enteroviruses as potential suspects,
but while some have been detected in recent paralysis cases, it hasn’t been
found in others.
“This is a mystery so far,” the CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier
said.
Many children eventually recover from the illness, with
treatments varying depending on their symptoms and severity of illness, but
others may not.
Carter Roberts, who according to his family was a fully
vaccinated and healthy child, was struck by the virus at age 3 in 2016.
Carter’s family said that following his diagnosis he spent nearly 200 days in
the hospital, including over 100 days in intensive physical therapy, but he
remained fully dependent on a ventilator unable to move on his own, with his
prognosis unlikely to change.
On Sept. 22, nearly 2.5 years after his diagnosis, and on
the same day that he received a toe-controlled motorized wheelchair that would
help him navigate kindergarten, Carter died.
“We are so sad to announce that Carter passed away last
night around 8 p.m.,” a post on the “Carter’s Coalition” Facebook page said.
“Although we miss him more than words can express, he is free of his machines
and tubes. He is free to run, climb and play like he did before AFM. He is
surrounded by love and peace in heaven. Our family is forever changed by the
almost 6 years we had with him on this year. His voice, spirit and joy will be
terribly missed but never forgotten.”
The CDC did not disclose which of the 22 states have
confirmed cases but said that most of the cases began in August and September.
Messonnier said that, in general, parents can help protect their children from
disease by practicing hand washing and applying insect repellent to protect
against mosquito bites.
[Many from Minnesota]
https://www.foxnews.com/health/polio-like-illness-paralyzing-children-remains-mystery-to-health-officials
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