Calif. Paralysis Cases Still a Mystery

With clinical specimens available from 19 of the cases, CDC and California health experts looked at numerous potential infection causes but found no common link. The report, published online in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, listed the following agents for which tests were run: "enteroviruses (including poliovirus), arboviruses, herpes viruses (HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, and EBV), parechoviruses, adenoviruses, rabies, influenza A and B, human metapneumovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza 1-4, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, rickettsial pathogens, and free-living amoebas." Results were mostly negative. No evidence of poliovirus was found. Samples from two patients were serologically reactive for mycoplasma (but negative on PCR testing) and one patient showed molecular evidence of a rhinovirus. And enterovirus D68 DNA was found in respiratory specimens from two patients. The latter finding has gained significance in the wake of recent D68 outbreaks in Colorado and elsewhere, in which some pediatric patients also showed neurological symptoms including paralysis. This virus usually causes only respiratory symptoms, although these can be severe. http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/GeneralNeurology/47926?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2014-10-04&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2%40gmail.com&mu_id=5883165&utm_term=Daily%20B