Rare, polio-like condition appears in US again

Both EV-D68 and EV-A71 are enteroviruses, and they are in the same family of viruses as polio. Polio is notorious for causing neurological complications, including near complete paralysis but also limb weakness. Polio once caused regular epidemics until vaccination wiped it out across most of the world.

The other viruses such as EV-D68 and EV-A71 cause much milder disease or no symptoms at all. But in very rare cases, they can damage the nerves.

“We know that enteroviruses, especially EV-A71, have been associated with acute flaccid myelitis,” Herlihy told NBC News.

EV-A71 is a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease, an uncomfortable and highly contagious childhood illness marked by blisters or spots on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, in the mouth and elsewhere.

OCTOBER 8, 2018

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