NANCY MESSONNIER: We have learned a lot about AFM since 2014, but there are things that we still don’t understand. In 2014, when we first found the peak in AFM, there was a large outbreak of EVD-68, enterovirus D-68 occurring. That outbreak was really severe. Emergency rooms, intensive care units were flooded. So, of course, in 2014, we really focused on EVD-68 as the cause of AFM. But in 2016, when we saw the next peak of AFM, we weren’t having a large outbreak of EVD-68 or of EVA-71. And now in 2018, we’re also not seeing an increase in EVD-68 or EVA-71. That’s why we think that it’s important to continue to evaluate EVD-68, but we also think we need to be looking more broadly to figure out what’s triggering AFM.
OPERATOR: Once again, if you would like to ask a question from the phone lines, please press star, then 1 and record your name when prompted. Our next question comes from Maggie Fox with nbc news. Your line is now open.
>> Hi. Thanks. Can you talk a little bit more about the process that might underlie an immune response to a viral infection? And does that mean something like polio is also an immune response, or are there two different ways viruses can cause AFM? And I also have a follow-up. Thank you.
NANCY MESSONNIER: There are more than one way that a virus can cause limb weakness. Polio virus is more a direct impact of the virus. With AFM, one of the things we don’t completely understand is what is triggering the AFM. It’s possible it’s a direct effect of one of the viruses we’ve already found. It’s possible it’s a virus we haven’t found yet. It’s also possible that the infection is triggering the body’s own immune response, and it’s actually the immune response that’s causing the AFM. These are a variety of the hypothesis that we are considering, and certainly one of the things we’re going to be asking our AFM task force to help us think through, what are the possible triggers for AFM, and what science should we be doing to try to answer the question of what’s triggering AFM.
MAGGIE FOX: And can I also ask what’s not triggering AFM? There is still a lot of discussion on social media about vaccines. And I’ve noticed you’ve dropped the word “toxin.”
NANCY MESSONNIER: yep. So we’re working really hard to investigate every one of the cases from this year as well as in the previous years. In general, we have a list of hypotheses, and based on the epidemiology, the fact that most states in the United States have had cases of AFM, toxins are certainly lower on our list of causes. But we’re not ruling anything out at this point. In terms of vaccination, many of these kids have been vaccinated. It’s certainly something we’re going to be investigating. But for now, we continue to recommend that all children get their childhood vaccines, as CDC recommends.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2018/t1113-acute-flaccid-myelitis.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
