Researchers have found a polio-like syndrome in a five children from California, says a case report that was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014.

“Although poliovirus has been eradicated from most of the globe, other viruses can also injure the spine, leading to a polio-like syndrome,” said case report author Keith Van Haren, MD, with Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and a member of the American Academy of Neurology and co-author Emanuelle Waubant, MD, with the University of California-San Francisco. “In the past decade, newly identified strains of enterovirus have been linked to polio-like outbreaks among children in Asia and Australia. These five new cases highlight the possibility of an emerging infectious polio-like syndrome in California.”

Van Haren and his colleagues reviewed all polio-like cases among children who had paralysis that affected one of more limbs, and abnormal MRI scans of the spinal cord that explained the paralysis. They found 5 children one or more arms or legs of which suddenly paralyzed; they were all treated, but their symptoms did not improve within several months. It is interesting that all five children were vaccinated against poliovirus. Yet two of them tested positive for enterovirus-68, a rare virus that was previously associated with polio-like symptoms. As for the other three children, nothing was found in their tests.

“Our findings have important implications for disease surveillance, testing and treatment,” said Van Haren. “We would like to stress that this syndrome appears to be very, very rare. Any time a parent sees symptoms of paralysis in a child, the child should be seen by a doctor right away.”