Acute flaccid myelitis in childhood: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Acute flaccid myelitis is an uncommon condition in childhood with a high rate of significant long-term morbidity. AFM should be considered in children presenting with acute limb pain and weakness.

Comment on ‘Acute flaccid myelitis in childhood: a retrospective cohort study’

“…Two months later, cerebral and spinal MRI showed persistent pontine and spinal abnormalities. This observation highlights the rarity of AFM as a differential diagnosis of GBS and transverse myelitis with a unique feature involving electively the spinal grey matter and residual neurological deficits in 90% of patients [1][2][3]. Awareness of this disorder especially in countries where polio has been eradicated may lead to more rapid diagnosis and avoid delay of treatment, mainly with IVIG, which may prevent neurological sequelae as in our case.…”

“…Awareness of this disorder especially in countries where polio has been eradicated may lead to more rapid diagnosis and avoid delay of treatment, mainly with IVIG, which may prevent neurological sequelae as in our case. Therefore, we believe that these case series by Andersen et al, us and others encourage the consideration of spinal MRI as a useful tool in atypical paediatric GBS [1][2][3].…”

“…We have read with great interest the paper by Andersen et al, 'Acute flaccid myelitis in childhood: a retrospective cohort study', in the European Journal of Neurology (June 2017) [1].…”

Enteroviruses Remodel Autophagic Trafficking through Regulation of Host SNARE Proteins to Promote Virus Replication and Cell Exit

“…Recently, infections are often correlated with cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) (Aliabadi et al, 2016; Messacar et al, 2015). AFM is a rare condition that causes weakening in the muscles and is seen most often in children (Andersen et al, 2017; Oster et al, 2017, Soc. Neuroped., abstract).…”

Acute Flaccid Myelitis: Characteristics and Outcomes of 2014 and 2016 Cases at a Single Center

“…Pain was also a common complaint at diagnosis in our case series, which may be underestimated given the young age of our patients. 11,12 There is increasing evidence of an association between AFM and EV infection, but whether this association is related to direct viral invasion of the spinal cord, para-infectious autoimmune response to infection, or a combination of the two, remains unclear. 3,13,14 We did not find EV by PCR testing in cerebrospinal fluid from the 13 children that underwent lumbar puncture.…”