COVID-19 measures could disrupt rare polio-like disease - The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Health experts once thought 2020 might be the worst year yet for a rare paralyzing disease that has been hitting U.S.

But they now say the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt the pattern for the mysterious illnesses, which spike every other year starting in late summer.

“We just simply don’t know right now,” said Kimberlin, who is co-leader of a national study to gather specimens from children who develop the paralyzing condition.

In 2018, 10% of patients were not hospitalized until four or more days after limb weakness started, the CDC reported.

In some cases it started small — for example, a thumb that suddenly wouldn’t move.

The CDC on Tuesday released a study of cases from 2018 that found that the median age of the affected children was 5 years old.

This year, as of the end of June, 16 cases have been reported, at least one of them fatal.