CO Doctors Confirm 10th Case Of Partial Paralysis In Children - Viral Link Still Unconfirmed

[hatrack]

State health authorities have confirmed a 10th case of paralysis-like symptoms in a Colorado child, an outbreak state and federal officials say might be linked to concurrent viral outbreaks.

The 10th child is at Children's Hospital Colorado, where the other nine children were diagnosed, said Dr. Larry Wolk, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and a pediatrician.

At a news conference at the hospital Monday, Children's doctors said it is too soon to know whether the afflicted kids will recover from the paralysis or how long that recovery might take. And they're no closer to understanding why Colorado appears to be the focus of the ailment.

Dr. Chris Nyquist, medical director of infection prevention and control at Children's, said the affected group — kids averaging 8 years old — provides fertile ground for the spread of viruses, especially at this time of year. "You have a new strain of virus circulating in a susceptible population that likes to spread things back and forth to each other. It's really a perfect storm for spreading viral illness through school settings, day care settings and really from the middle of the nation throughout the rest of the nation," Nyquist said. "We really can't say this is something specific to Colorado's environment."

EDIT

http://www.denverpost.com/popular/ci_26628449

[Demeter]

1. given that this entero virus is in the polio family, it stands to reason

that there could be polio-like effects...especially if there was a little genetic "enhancement" of its function.