POLIO-LIKE DISEASE REACHES RECORD HIGH IN THE US IN 2018
The polio-like disease that causes paralysis in children has reached a record high, health officials in the US have confirmed.
Acute flaccid myelitis, which leaves youngsters unable to move their face, neck, back or limbs, has been confirmed in 158 children so far this year.
This is nine more than in 2016 and a staggering 155 more than when the disease emerged in the country just six years ago.
Although no children who developed AFM this year have died, around half have been admitted to intensive care and hooked up to ventilators to help them breathe
AFM affected at least 120 children in the US in 2014, followed by 149 confirmed cases two years later. For unclear reasons, incidences were much lower in 2015 and 2017, however, one child died from the disease last year.
As of December 9, 311 reports were being investigated. Confirming cases requires an MRI scan showing lesions in the part of the spinal cord that controls muscles.
This year's outbreak is spread across 36 states, peaking in Texas with 21 incidences followed by Colorado with 15 and Ohio with ten.
This may just be due to better diagnosis, with Colorado being at the centre of the 2014 outbreak and its doctors therefore being more aware of AFM's symptoms.
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