Enterovirus D68 and the Polio Virus
Question: “There is news about lately about the Polio-like illness that evidently has hit well over 1,100 cases and 13 deaths. The articles I read refer to something call “acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)” and then to “Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68)”. One or both are referred to as “puzzling” by the CDC. Is this a strain or mutation of the poliovirus?
Dr. Bruno’s Response: “D68 is NOT Polio”
The mainstream media covered this story to death all summer long proclaiming a new "polio epidemic" unless the vaccine was found for this "mutation of the poliovirus." When the season for this type of virus was over in October the story went away with the virus.
D68 is no more a mutation of the poliovirus then a nectarine is a mutation of an orange. There are more than 100 "polio – like" viruses in the enterovirus family, that is viruses that grow in your intestines. Something like a dozen of these viruses are able to cause damage to the brain stem and the spinal cord just as the three polioviruses do. D68 is one of those and we're only talking about it because it was found in a few children who had muscle weakness and even fewer who had paralysis. There is still no direct link between D68 and these children developing "polio – like" symptoms. I would not be surprised if it turned out that D68 did cause the symptoms. But thousands upon thousands of children developed respiratory problems due to the virus and had absolutely no muscle weakness, let alone paralysis. The only thing that's unusual about D68 this year is that we saw more than usual cases of muscle weakness and paralysis, which is certainly disturbing to those who were affected and their parents, but not the hallmark of the new "polio epidemic," as one media-crazed neurologist said out in California.