A CDC report reveals the timeline of enterovirus D68 closely resembles that of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a mysterious polio-like illness that has caused paralysis in children.

This thin section transmission electron microscopic image reveals numerous, spheroid shaped Enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) virions, which are members of the family Picornaviridae. CREDIT: CDC/Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Yiting Zhang

This thin section transmission electron microscopic image reveals numerous, spheroid shaped Enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) virions, which are members of the family Picornaviridae.
CREDIT: CDC/Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Yiting Zhang

 

In AFM patients tested across the centers from July to October, two of 2,433 patients, or .08%, tested positive for EV-D68 in 2017. In 2018, 358 of 2,579 patients, almost 14%, tested positive for the virus.

This timeline corresponds with AFM outbreaks.

In 2017, 35 cases of AFM were confirmed by the CDC. This is down from the previous year, where there were 149 cases. In 2018, the CDC reported the largest number of cases since the first outbreak in 2014, with 223 cases in the US.

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