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Polio-like syndrome caused by several viruses, CDC says

A polio-like condition called acute flaccid myelitis is likely caused by viruses, and probably not just a single virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Patients with the condition almost all have shown symptoms of a viral infection before they developed the muscle weakness or paralysis that marks the condition, CDC researchers said in a new report.

The viruses include the main suspect, EV-D68, but also a related virus called EV-A71 and a few others, a CDC research team said.

“Almost all patients with AFM have reported signs and symptoms consistent with viral illness in the weeks preceding limb weakness,” the CDC team, led by Susannah McKay of the CDC’s viral disease division, wrote in their report.

“Clinical, laboratory, and epidemiologic evidence to date suggest a viral association.”

So far this year, the CDC has confirmed 80 cases of acute flaccid myelitis or AFM. Another 20 suspected cases are not AFM, the CDC said.

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