MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – When some children are back to school, there is another virus to look out for.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns of an expected peak in acute flat myelitis, or AFM – a polio-like disease that affects children.
It was July of 2018, and Minneapolis’s Orville Young was 3. Two days later, the healthy toddler was sick. Elaine Young is the mother of Orville.
‘He could not use his arm at all. It would not stop at all, so we went to the ER and brought a treatment there for a week, while it gradually got worse, “said Elaine.
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Orville was diagnosed with AFM, which affects children by weakening them and causing paralysis. Orville’s foot and leg were also stupid.
The family has received treatment from Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a leader in treating and repabbing AFM patients. Dr. Angela Sinner works with AFM patients.
Orville Young (Credit: Young Family)
“The CDC has warned us that this is a normal year where we might expect to see a spike in acute flat myelitis cases,” Sinner said.
She says it is a rare diagnosis, in which a few hundred children are diagnosed each year. But parents need to know the signs.
‘A child who has acute flat myelitis may have weakness in the limbs, they may fall, they may have difficulty running on their own. They can crawl where they typically have to walk, so weakness is a common symptom, ”said Sinner.
Some patients are so weak that they need ventilators to breathe. She says it is caused by a virus, but like the Young family, it starts with a cold. And with some young kids, it turns out in AFM.
“We do not understand why one child will be affected with acute flat myelitis, while other relatives in the same house may not have this finding,” Sinner said.
She says one thing she knows, even in the midst of COVID-19 it is important to get children with symptoms to the doctor quickly. AFM can cause long-term paralysis.
As for Orville, he should have had a nerve transplant, but is considered lucky, and he knows it. He tells WCCO that he’s awesome! ‘
There is some hope that because so many people wash their hands and wear masks, it may slow down the spike in AFM cases this fall.
Click here for more information on AFM.
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