Doctors puzzled by polio-like illness crippling California kids: ‘What we’re seeing now is bad’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/24/doctors-puzzled-by-polio-like-illness-crippling-california-kids-what-were-seeing-now-is-bad/
Doctors puzzled by polio-like illness crippling California kids: What were seeing now is bad
By Tom Boggioni
Monday, February 24, 2014 10:24 EST
As many as 25 children in California have been afflicted with a rare polio-like illness leaving them with paralyzed limbs and respiratory problems, USA Today reports.
While testing has shown that none of the children have polio, the new illness has much in common with the infectious viral disease which was all but eliminated following the introduction of a vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1954.
What were seeing now is bad. The best-case scenario is complete loss of one limb, the worst is all four limbs, with respiratory insufficiency, as well, said Keith Van Haren, a pediatric neurologist at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. Its like the old polio.
The first reported case appeared in 2012 when Sofia Jarvis in Berkeley began to experience wheezing and difficulty breathing. The 2-year-old spent days in the intensive care unit with doctors believing that she had asthma.