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WEBVTT BEAU: YEAH, THAT IS RIGHT. IT IS BECOMING DIFFICULT TO KEEP TRACK OF THESE NUMBERS. ACCORDING TO THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT, THERE WERE FIVE CONFIRMED CASES AND TWO SUSPECTED CASES. WE WILL THROW A GRAPHIC UP ON THE SCREEN SO YOU CAN GRASP THIS. TODAY IT IS UP TO SIX CONFIRMED AND ONE SUSPECTED. ONE OF THOSE SUSPECTED CASES WAS CONFIRMED, SO IT BRINGS THE NUMBERS TO SIX AND ONE WITH A TOTAL OF SEVEN PEOPLE BEING TREATED AT UMC CHILDREN’S. THIS IS SCARY FOR PARENTS. ONE DAY YOUR CHILD IS FINE, THE NEXT THEY ARE HAVING TROUBLE LIVING -- MOVING THEIR LIMBS. YOU FIND OUT THEY HAVE AFM. THE SEVENTH PATIENT EXPECTED TO HAVE THIS, BUT IT HAS NOT BEEN OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED BY THE CDC CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL. AFM AFFECTS THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, SPINAL CORD, CAN CAUSE PARALYSIS. WE HELP

Advertisement 6 cases of rare 'polio-like' illness AFM confirmed at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh; 7th case suspected Share Shares Copy Link Copy

UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is now treating a total of seven patients with confirmed or suspected cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), the Allegheny County Health Department said Tuesday.Five of those cases had previously been confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and one more was confirmed Tuesday -- bringing the total number of children with confirmed AFM to six.The seventh patient is also suspected to have AFM, according to the Health Department, but it has not yet been officially confirmed by the CDC. Acute flaccid myelitis affects the body's nervous system, specifically the spinal cord, and can cause paralysis.The local cases are not believed to be connected, according to Dr. Karen Hacker, the director of the Health Department. One patient is from Washington County, one is from Beaver County and the other five are from different communities in Allegheny County."It's usually unequal or what we call asymmetric, so one arm or one leg is affected more than the other side, but it can sometimes affect both sides," said Dr. John Williams, chief of the pediatric infectious diseases division at Children's Hospital. "The key thing a parent would see is weakness, such as a child having trouble trying to feed themselves or having difficulty walking."This year, there have been 90 cases spread among 27 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday."This is a mystery so far," the CDC's Dr. Nancy Messonnier said in a call with reporters last month.Fact sheet: Acute flaccid myelitis information for parents (symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention)The rare illness seems to be following an every-other-year pattern, health officials said. About 120 confirmed cases were reported in 2014, and 149 were reported in 2016, but the counts were far lower in 2015 and 2017."The most common cause that we do identify, are viruses and most of these are common viruses that most children get," Williams said. "We don't know why only a very, very few develop the nerve problems from the virus.""We are hopeful that, at least historically, this current situation we're dealing with will be over soon because the viruses that are most likely to be involved in this tend to have an uptick at the end of the summer into the early fall, and so we're almost really at the end of that period of time, and that is certainly what they've seen in these other outbreaks in other communities," Hacker said.Doctors across the country are trying to figure out the origins of this most recent spike.It is "a pretty dramatic disease," but fortunately, most kids recover, Messonnier said.Williams pointed out that while the disease can be devastating for the families affected, less than 1 in 1 million people are diagnosed with AFM. "In the last few years, there have been about 150 cases a year, and we might have a number like that this year," said Williams. "This year, tens of thousands of children in the U.S. will be hospitalized for influenza and several hundred will die, and most of those kids were previously healthy and most of those kids were not vaccinated, so in terms of protecting their children from severe disease, seat belts and car seats and flu shots are a lot more important than worrying about something that's extremely rare."