Sadly enough, the COVID-19 disease is not the only threat to public health. There are many other dangerous conditions out there, and the CDC (Centers of Disease Control) is warning us about another one that could start surfacing. Therefore, parents must take into account that a rare and paralyzing condition is threatening to affect young children in the coming months.
The condition is called acute flaccid myelitis or AFM, and it manifests itself through symptoms like fever, muscle weakness, respiratory illness, and others.
The COVID-19 pandemic could get in the way
Dr. Thomas Clark, who is deputy director of CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, declared the following:
“AFM is a priority for CDC as we prepare for a possible outbreak this year,”
“We are concerned that, in the midst of a COVID pandemic, that cases might not be recognized as AFM, or we are concerned that parents might be worried about taking their child to the doctor if they develop something as serious as limb weakness,”
The situation regarding the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the United States is horrible. The country approaches a total number of infections of 5 million people, and it has surpassed 160,000 deaths. There are tens of thousands of infections reported every day from across the US, with the most affected states being California, Florida, Texas, and New York.
The CDC released results for a study done after the last AFM outbreak from 2018. The average age of the patients was of only 5 years old, and 98% of them needed to be hospitalized.
Parents and doctors need to act quickly if they see children that show any symptoms like limb weakness or pain after an infection. These adults should not hesitate to get the children to the hospital. A quicker treatment could help children to recover better.
