In a year it was supposed to flare, polio-like syndrome in kids doesn’t, adding to mystery

Physicians who treat children who develop a strange polio-like syndrome known as acute flaccid myelitis had been steeling themselves this fall for an onslaught of cases of the irreversible condition, which appears to be triggered by infection with an enterovirus known as EV-D68.

Like many respiratory viruses, circulation of EV-D68 appeared to be suppressed by Covid-19 control measures earlier in the pandemic. But in late August and September hospitals in various parts of the country started admitting little kids with telltale signs of EV-D68 infection, which in the respiratory phase looks like a bad asthma attack in a child who doesn’t have asthma. Doctors who study AFM were convinced a heartbreaking influx of paralyzed children and petrified parents would soon follow; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out an alert in early September warning medical practitioners to be on the lookout for cases.

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