Multiple Cases of Children in California Having a Polio-like Illness

According to the article, “’About 20’ cases of polio-like illness found in California” by Jacque Wilson and Ashley Hayes of CNN, neurologists have identified five patients who developed paralysis in one or more of their limbs between August 2012 and July 2013. However, all five of the children had been vaccinated for the poliovirus and the treatment did not help the children to regain their motor skills. Samples were taken from two of the five children and the results were that they tested positive for entervirus 68, which is a rare virus that is linked to severe respiratory illness.  The children have not recovered use of their affected limbs and have “severe weakness” according to Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant, a neurologist at the University of California. She claims that “it’s not just dropping a toy; it’s more like not being able to move your arm at all."

  

This phenomenon is not new according to Dr. Carol Glaser, chief of Encephalitis and Special Investigation Section at the California Department of Public Health, who says that there are similar outbreaks all across the world. Enterovirus 68 was first identified in a California lab in 1962, and since 2000 the government has kept a close watch and has seen 47 cases. However, outbreaks have occurred over the years in both Asia and Europe. Enterovirus 71 is more concerning to health officials, and it is associated with severe neurological issues such as aseptic meningitis, polio-like paralysis and encephalitis. Enterovirus 71 has circulated in Europe, Malaysia, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Sydney, Australia, and in the United States. Dr. Steven Oberste, chief of the Polio and Picornavirus Laboratory Branch at the CDC, said, “That’s the really odd thing, we see cases from time to time in the United States. Occasionally there’ll be severe. Basically it’s identical to what’s circulating in Asia….but it doesn’t cause the same big outbreak in disease. And we really don’t know why.”
 

I chose this article because it is happening in the United States and has been happening recently. Also, I chose this article because in class we are going to learn about polio, which in the article was stated has been eradicated in the United States for 30 years, and this is article is about a polio-like illness and how there is still symptoms of polio. The CDC does not know what the connection is between the disease in Asia and in the United States and why we are not having as large of an outbreak. I thought this article gave a lot of information of what was going on in California and also around the world and how they’ve been following Enterovirus  68 and 71 cases for quite some time. I hope that doctors and the CDC can soon discover what is causing this illness and they are able to treat it and help those who lost their motor functions because of it.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/health/california-mystery-disease/