CDC says Polio-like illness to peak this year

CNN– A Polio-like illness called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is affecting children with cases increasing every two years according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Polio still exists today, but cases have decreased by more than 99-percent since 1988 according to the World Health Organization.

Now, a polio-type illness has left a number of children paralyzed and has been peaking every other year since 2014 according to the CDC.

And if the pattern continues, it could peak again this year.

Doctors say, most of the patients with AFM had a mild respiratory illness or fever consistent with a viral infection before they developed AFM according to officials.

CDC said they aren’t sure why a small group developed AFM while others recovered. But researchers say the differences offer clues to different causes behind AFM which they hold leads to prevention and treatment methods.

CDC data shows there were 237 cases of AFM in 2018 in comparison there were 33 cases in 2019. And 90 percent of AFM cases have happened in children and occurred in 48 states and DC according to the CDC.