Polio-like illness seen in up to 25 California children

By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A rare and mysterious polio-like illness may have afflicted up to 25 children in California, several of whom have suffered limb paralysis, and health experts were struggling to identify the cause of the ailment, medical researchers said on Monday. Since 2012, between 20 and 25 previously healthy children from across California have shown signs of the illness, possibly caused by an infectious virus, the American Academy of Neurology said in a statement detailing the research of two California neurologists. One of the children remains in serious condition but none have died from the syndrome, researchers said. Stanford University pediatric neurologist Keith Van Haren said in a statement that the cases could indicate the possibility of an "emerging infectious polio-like syndrome in California," although federal health officials said there were too few cases to consider the spread of the ailment as an imminent threat.



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