Mysterious Disease Has Affected 116 People In The US And Spread To More Than 30 States

A rare, polio-esque disease has spread around the United States in recent months, according to the Center for Disease Control. The federal agency announced this week that there have been 116 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis (or AFM) in the U.S., spread across 31 states.

AFM attacks the nervous system, weakening muscles and reflexes in the body. The CDC started heavily tracking AFM in 2014, and since then, a large majority of those affected were children. Kids made up more than 90 percent of all AFM cases since 2014, per the CDC.

The agency also said more than 90 percent of cases came after a minor respiratory illness, but the CDC is not sure why most people recover without a problem while a small number of others contract AFM.

Though it is similar to polio, the CDC said it is not caused by poliovirus.

There was a relatively large outbreak of AFM in the U.S. in late 2014. The CDC noted an odd pattern, in which there is a larger outbreak every two years. More than 100 people contracted the disease in 2014, 2016 and 2018, while fewer than 50 cases were confirmed in 2015 and 2017.

There were 72 confirmed cases of AFM in the U.S. at the end of October.