Inside STAT: New evidence points to possible cause of puzzling paralysis in kids

Physicians have long suspected that a type of bacteria known as EV-D68 was behind the mysterious polio-like condition known as acute flaccid myelitis, but new work more solidly links the two. The disease, which has been diagnosed in 500 children in the U.S. since 2014, damages nerves and causes paralysis, but researchers now have been able to find antibodies specific to EV-D68 and other viruses in the spinal fluid of more than 40 AFM patients. But the road is not yet clear, partly because evidence of viral infection is usually gone before symptoms show up, which makes AFM hard to diagnose and treat. Read more from STAT contributor Maggie Fox here.