Investigators have broadened their search for the cause of polio-like paralysis that has stricken 51 children across the country — including 11 in Colorado.
The lead suspect, enterovirus D68, and other viral illnesses sent thousands of Colorado children to hospitals and clinics with serious respiratory problems. That outbreak is , officials said, but questions remain.
In a cluster of Colorado cases, children developed spinal-cord lesions and partial paralysis following bouts of EV-D68-like illness, said Mark Pallansch, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Viral Diseases.
“These clusters are still quite puzzling to me,” Pallansch said. “We have not found enterovirus D68 or any other pathogen in the children’s spinal fluid. We are expanding the search to more aggressively look at pathogens other than D68.”
It’s a mystery that ultimately engulfed 51 children in 23 states between Aug. 1 and late October. A few more possible cases are being evaluated.
Colorado’s cases — and another child treated here from a nearby state — remain . About half the children in the cluster tested positive for EV-D68 in respiratory and other tissues samples. But half did not, instead testing positive for rhinoviruses.
This year’s apparent widespread outbreak of EV-D68 — most children weren’t tested — was unusual in that the virus is an uncommon pathogen. Also, while most of the millions of children affected across the country suffered only mild cold-like symptoms, tens of thousands suffered severe respiratory illness and high fevers. Other viruses besides EV-D68 also were suspected as contributing.
For the 51 children whose fever was followed by muscle weakness in one or more limbs, recovery is uncertain.
“We won’t know about recovery for three to six months,” Pallansch said.
