Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Walker, Liz J
• Thorley, Bruce R
• Morris, Anne
• Elliott, Elizabeth J
• Saul, Nathan
• Britton, Philip N

Titel

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

Ist Teil von

• Emerging infectious diseases, 2022-01, Vol.28 (1), p.20-28

Ort / Verlag

United States: U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• 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.