CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly a month has passed since the Bureau for Public Health in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources first issued a Health Alert about a confirmed case of Acute Flaccid Myelitis, a polio-like disease, in West Virginia.
As of Tuesday morning, no additional cases were being reported following what was the first such notice for the Mountain State since 2016.
“This is very rare,” said Dr. Mary “Mitzi” Payne, a Marshall Health professor of neurology, of the condition that affects the nervous system.
It’s characterized by the sudden onset of weakness in one or more limbs starting with cells in the spinal cord’s gray matter that control motor movement.
“Acute Flaccid Myelitis comes after a virus. We’re not really sure if it’s directly from the virus or if it’s a result of how the body reacts by the immune system to the virus,” Payne explained.
“It’s from relatively common viruses, but we don’t really understand why many people can get the virus but only a very, very few get the Flaccid Myelitis.”
The Bureau for Public Health’s alert did not specify where the single West Virginia case had been reported.
So far this year, it’s one of four confirmed cases nationally along with those in Utah, Nebraska and North Carolina, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recognized AFM as a syndrome in 2014 and launched health surveillance amid increased reports of acute limb weakness.
As a precaution, state health officials were telling clinicians to remain vigilant about Acute Flaccid Myelitis among all age groups, including children.
“In children, sometimes weakness can be more like clumsiness, falling. It could be dropping objects that they’re holding in their hands. We can also see weakness of the respiratory muscles, so if they seem to have a hard time breathing shallow breaths,” Payne said.
“Chewing muscles can be affected, so if they’re chewing food and choking easily — anything that’s a change from their usual.”
Under the West Virginia Reportable Disease Rule, any suspected cases of Acute Flaccid Myelitis must be reported to local health departments immediately.