The warning from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) comes after a record 233 cases of the rare but potentially life-threatening illness across 41 states last year.
AFM outbreaks typically spike between late summer and early fall every other year, with symptoms including paralysis in the limbs, sudden onset weakness, a facial droop, and difficulty moving eyes, speaking, or swallowing.
CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said in a press release, “I urge physicians to look for symptoms and report suspected cases so that we can accelerate efforts to address this serious illness.”
Medical experts are still uncertain how to treat or prevent the illness, and while they have their suspicions, they are not entirely certain what causes the condition that affects the nervous system.
She urged doctors to “help with early recognition of patients with AFM symptoms” by collecting lab samples as soon as they suspect a patient has the illness.
She added, “When specimens are collected as soon as possible after symptom onset, we have a better chance of understanding the causes of AFM and developing a diagnostic test.”
The CDC said that doctors should collect lab specimens including cerebrospinal fluid, and if a spinal lesion is visible from an MRI, they should then immediately bring the case to the attention of the department.
Scientists and medical experts have suspicions that a combination of enteroviruses— D68 and A71, which usually cause cold-like symptoms—likely play a role in AFM.
After experiencing milder symptoms, such as coughing and sneezing, people can be left paralyzed by AFM. The illness can be life-threatening in more severe case where neurological complications occur, but physical therapy has been shown to be effective in cases of recovery.
Dr. Fernando Acosta, a pediatric neurologist at Cook Children’s Medical Center, in Fort Worth, Texas, said, “If [AFM affects gray matter] lower in the spinal cord, [paralysis will] be more in the legs and if it’s higher up, it'll be more in the arms.
“If it’s closer to the neck, they can’t move head, neck and shoulders. We had one case of that and that was just awful,” she added.
Speaking to the outlet about her daughter’s sudden decline in health, Elaina’s mother, Thao Habeck, recalled the moment her daughter suffered limb weakness and paralysis.
“Her body just kind of started not wanting to do anything,” she explained. “She couldn’t even lift her neck up or sit up for a long period of time. I don’t know what happened.”
Elaina reportedly woke up one day, unable to move her neck and right arm, and began to fall over often while at school.
“When she would walk through large crowds of kids, if someone bumped her, she would just fall over,“ Thao said. ”She couldn’t even hold her own lunch tray.”
After rounds of physical therapy, Elaina eventually recovered, the outlet reported.
“She has come a very long way,” her mother said. “She’s jumping up and hanging on the trapeze on her own. If you look at her now, you would never know that she was even sick.”
“Early and aggressive physical therapy and rehabilitation hold good promise to help kids strengthen the function that they have after AFM and regain as much strength and function as possible.”
