New study shows mutated ‘Polio-like’ virus may be responsible for paralyzing more than 100 children in the past year

A new study published on Monday has strengthened the connection between enterovirus D68 and the sudden paralysis of more than 100 children in the last year

Researchers now believe mutated strain of enterovirus D-68 caused more than 100 children to suffer sudden paralysis in the last year
The B1 strain first popped up four years ago and has coding differences that make it similar to polio
None of the children monitored in the new study have fully recovered – suggesting the paralysis is permanent
By ASHLEY COLLMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A virus that starts off like the common cold could be responsible for leaving more than 100 children with paralysis.
Last summer, more than 1,000 children and teens across the country were hospitalized with symptoms that appeared to be caused by a particularly nasty strain of enterovirus.
While some of the children showed only minor symptoms of the virus – such as runny nose, sneezing and coughing – others suffered weakness of the limbs to complete paralysis
Doctors caring for the sick children connected the illness early on to a pathogen called enterovirus D-68.

A new study published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases backed those initial opinions, after following the progress of 25 children in California and Colorado who experienced paralysis.

Researchers now suggest that the children were infected with a mutated form of D-68, which first appeared four years ago.

B1 has five to six coding differences that make it different from other strains commonly found in the U.S., and that these differences cause nerve-damaging symptoms similar to polio.
And like polio, the nerve damage appears to be permanent – since none of the children have fully recovered.
‘This is starting to look more like polio unfortunately where the paralysis appears to be permanent or semi-permanent. This is why there is such an urgency for more research to investigate this’ researcher Charles Chiu, an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said according to the Washington Post.
However, the study has not definitely proved the connection between B1 and the paralyzed children, since researchers could not find the strain in the patients’ spinal fluid. The researchers however, theorized that that was because the samples were taken too late.
‘This is a virus that causes the common cold,’ Chiu told NBC News. ‘Parents don’t bring their kids in until they are really sick. By that time, typically, the viral levels may be very, very low or undetectable.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3020462/New-study-shows-mutated-Polio-like-virus-responsible-paralyzing-100-children-past-year.html#ixzz3W0cvxhqC
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New study shows mutated ‘Polio-like’ virus may be responsible for paralyzing more than 100 children in the past year