(Inquirer) -A mysterious disease marked by muscle weakness or paralysis struck 233 people in 2018, most of them children — marking the worst year since the federal government started tracking the illness in 2014. The number of confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis included 11 each in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The year’s total was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cause is thought to be a virus, leading to damage to the spinal cord, but much about the illness remains unclear, CDC physicians said in a conference call. A prime suspect is a type of enterovirus called D68, yet most people who become infected with it do not develop muscle weakness. The disease has struck 11 people so far this year, the agency said. That number is not expected to go much higher, as the illness so far has followed a biannual pattern, spiking in 2014, 2016, and 2018. READ MORE
