{"id":1264,"date":"2014-02-27T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2014-03-02T01:45:37","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T01:45:37","slug":"mysterious-polio-like-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/mysterious-polio-like-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious Polio-Like Illness"},"content":{"rendered":"

An extremely rare, polio-like disease has appeared in more than a dozen California children within the past year, and each of them suffered paralysis to one or more arms or legs, Stanford University researchers say. But public health officials haven\u2019t identified any common causes connecting the cases.<\/p>\n

The illness is still being investigated and appears to be very unusual, but Dr. Keith Van Haren at Lucile Packard Children\u2019s Hospital at Stanford University warned Monday that any child showing a sudden onset of weakness in their limbs or symptoms of paralysis should be immediately seen by a doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disease resembles but is not the same as polio,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this is serious. Most of the children we\u2019ve seen so far have not recovered use of their arm or their leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

But doctors are not sure if it\u2019s a virus or something else, he said. Dr. Van Haren says he has studied five cases from Monterey up through the San Francisco Bay Area, including two who were identified with the disease enterovirus-68, which is from the same family as the polio viruses. He said there have been about 20 cases statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to temper the concern, because at the moment, it does not appear to represent a major epidemic but only a very rare phenomenon,\u201d he said, noting similar outbreaks in Asia and Australia.<\/p>\n

But for some children, like Sofia Jarvis, 4, of Berkeley, rare doesn\u2019t mean safe.<\/p>\n

\"Polio-Like<\/a>

Jessica Tomei holds her daughter, Sofia Jarvis, one of a handful of California children who has been diagnosed with a rare polio-like syndrome that has left her arm paralyzed. – Martha Mendoza\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

She first developed what looked like asthma two years ago, but then her left arm stopped moving, and has remained paralyzed ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can imagine. We had two boys that are very healthy and Sofia was healthy until that point,\u201d said her mother Jessica Tomei. \u201cWe did not realize what we were in store for. We did not realize her arm would be permanently paralyzed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Van Haren, who diagnosed Sofia, said polio vaccines do not protect children from the disease, but stressed that it is still important for children to receive that vaccine.<\/p>\n

Any of a number of illnesses could be at work, and it\u2019s possible some of the cases had one infection and some had another. Regarding the presence of EV-68 in at least two cases, \u201cit could be an incidental finding,\u201d Seward said.<\/p>\n

The California Department of Public Health has not identified any common causes that suggest that the cases are linked, said Dr. Gil Chavez, the deputy director of the Center for Infectious Disease and state epidemiologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysicians and public health officials who have encountered similar illnesses have submitted 20 reports to CDPH, and CDPH has conducted preliminary tests on 15 of these specimens,\u201d he said. \u201cThus far, the department has not identified any common causes that suggest that the cases are linked.\u201d<\/p>\n

UC San Francisco neurology professor Emmanuelle Waubant said they believe, but don\u2019t have proof, that it\u2019s a virus that for most children shows up only as a benign cold. She said a few children, due to their biological makeup, are having much more serious symptoms and she hoped doctors would look for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a lot of the neurologists who have trained in the last 30 years, it\u2019s extremely rare to see polio or polio-like syndrome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

By Martha Mendoza\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extremely rare, polio-like disease has appeared in more than a dozen California children within the past year, and each of them suffered paralysis to one or more arms or legs, Stanford University researchers say. But public health officials haven\u2019t identified any common causes connecting the cases. 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