Polio-Like Illness Sickens Dozens Of Children And Baffles Health Officials

Federal officials began tracking the disease, called acute flaccid myelitis, in 2014, when 120 cases were confirmed. This year, officials say, 89 cases have been reported in 33 states. Researchers say although the disease is similar to polio, it is not caused by the polio virus.

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, 6-year-old Jonathan Daniel Ramirez Porter woke up with a fever. His mother, Marijo De Guzman, decided to keep him home from kindergarten in Ferndale, Wash., a small town less than an hour south of the Canadian border. Instead of getting better, Daniel complained of a severe headache the next day. By Saturday, Oct. 15, he was stumbling and drooling, unable to keep food in his mouth or to speak clearly. (Hurley, 11/3)

Researchers developing drugs against polio and other polio-like viruses say those drugs could potentially be effective against a mysterious, polio-like condition called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 89 cases of the paralyzing disease in the United States through September. A 6-year-old boy suspected of having AFM died in Seattle on Sunday, the first death believed to be caused by the disease. (Hurley, 11/3)

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