Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will lead a 5-year, federally-funded study of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) – a rare pediatric neurologic disease.
CDC
This color-coded image shows the surface view of enterovirus D68. Red regions are the highest peaks, and the lowest portions are blue. In the black-and-white background are actual electron microscopy images of the EV-D68 virus.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded the $10 million grant to primary investigator David Kimberlin, MD, a UAB professor of pediatrics. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, MD, professor of neurology and pathology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, is the co-principal investigator.
The university will organize and implement the international, multisite study. Its primary goal is to examine the incidence and distribution of AFM, and its pathogenesis and progression. Enrollment is expected to commence next fall. Investigators will enroll children with symptoms of AFM and follow them for 1 year. Household contacts of the subjects will serve as comparators.
In addition to collecting data about risk factors and disease progression, the researchers will collect clinical specimens, including blood and cerebrospinal fluid. More details about the design and study sites will be released then, according to a press statement issued by NIAID.
AFM targets spinal nerves and often develops after a mild respiratory illness. The disease mounted a global epidemic comeback in 2014, primarily affecting children; it has occurred concurrently with enterovirus outbreaks.
“Growing epidemiological evidence suggests that enterovirus-D68 [EV-D68] could play a role,” the statement noted. “Most people who become infected with EV-D68 are asymptomatic or experience mild, cold-like symptoms. Researchers and physicians are working to understand if there is a connection between these viral outbreaks and AFM, and if so, why some children but not others experience this sudden muscle weakness and paralysis.”
The study will draw on the expertise of the AFM Task Force, established last fall. The group comprises physicians, scientists, and public health experts from diverse disciplines and institutions who will assist in the ongoing investigation.
The AFM natural history study is funded under contract HHSN272201600018C.