Using the Acute Flaccid Paralysis Surveillance System to Identify Cases of Acute Flaccid Myelitis, Australia, 2000‒2018

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Walker, Liz J. ; Thorley, Bruce R. ; Morris, Anne ; Elliott, Elizabeth J. ; Saul, Nathan ; Britton, Philip N.
• Corporate Authors:
  on behalf of the Australian Polio Expert Panel1
• Description:
  Since 2012, the United States has reported a distinct syndrome of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) with anterior myelitis, predominantly in children. This polio-like syndrome was termed acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). Australia routinely conducts AFP surveillance to exclude poliomyelitis. We reviewed 915 AFP cases in Australia for children <15 years of age during 2000‒2018 and reclassified a subset to AFM by using the US Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists case definition. We confirmed 37 AFM cases by using magnetic resonance imaging findings and 4 probable AFM cases on the basis of cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis. Nonpolio enteroviruses were detected in 33% of AFM cases from which stool samples were tested. Average annual AFM incidence was 0.07 cases/100,000 person-years in children <15 years of age. AFM occurred sporadically in Australia before 2010 but regularly since then, indicating sustained, albeit rare, clinical manifestation in children. The AFP surveillance system in Australia is well-positioned to identify future AFM cases.
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Central Nervous System Viral Diseases Child Child, Preschool Enterovirus Infections Humans Infant Myelitis Neuromuscular Diseases Paralysis
• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 2022; 28(1):21-29
• Pubmed ID:
  34932461
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8714202
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Australia
• Volume:
  28
• Issue:
  1
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:f282d30048bdcf55d8188ca360516c0c372daf67c79fd883958353e340869ba7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/113342/cdc_113342_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.37 MB ]