In the state of Minnesota, six children under the age of ten fell ill with a completely unexplored polio-like disease.
The disease begins as a mild cold and ends with limp limb and, in some cases, complete paralysis of the legs or arms.
On September 20, 2018, an outbreak was announced in Minnesota. The health department also issued a special warning.
Doctors diagnosed the sick with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM - acute flaccid myelitis). It is an extremely rare and new disease that affects mainly the United States. It only affects young children.
The disease is still mysterious and its causes are unknown. The first massive outbreak was recorded in 2014 in Colorado and California, and then 120 children fell ill. Since then, the number of patients has increased and decreased every year, that is, outbreaks come in waves and affect individual cities or states.
There were 33 cases in 2017, and 38 children were reported sick in Minnesota in 2018 before the outbreak. The earliest case in Minnesota was recorded in July. 4-year-old Orville Young (pictured below) came down with a cold but was soon unable to move both legs and left arm.
The disease affects the nervous system of the spinal cord. Doctors suspect the viral nature of the disease and this virus was named EV-D68. It was discovered back in 1962 in California, but until 2014 it was considered extremely rare and only a couple of children a year became its victims, and in addition to the United States, cases were noted in Japan, the Philippines and the Netherlands. Since 2014, the virus appears to have exclusively affected Americans.
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At first, the sick child feels weak as with a cold and begins to have a runny nose and cough. But then his legs or arms become very weak or completely fail.
And this condition cannot be cured by itself. Very long-term therapy is needed to restore limb mobility. But if muscle flaccidity affects the upper body, then the child can quickly die from breathing problems.
When the disease affects the head, the sufferer can hardly speak and cannot chew or swallow food, as he almost loses control of the facial muscles.
At the moment, the largest number of patients with acute flaccid myelitis was recorded in 2016, then 149 children fell ill in the states of Oregon and Washington.