Acute Flaccid Myelitis
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Acute Flaccid Myelitis
My study question is whether Sam’s Condition is an autoimmune disease. I am trying to find out whether he spread the disease to his siblings, and if yes, why he has not felt better yet, his siblings appear to have recovered from the condition. I would select a case-control study that will help me compare people who do not have the same medical condition as Sam, yet they are similar in sex and age, for instance, I would identify the risk factors. I would select this type of study since it is best when gaining knowledge of rare diseases. A case-control study is also not expensive and time-consuming as compared to other methods.
The agent may be a virus, and the host may be a mosquito. The environment that may favor the disease is warm, one which is neither hot nor cold. Children are the most common group to be affected AFM (Dyda et al. 2018). The causative agent may be several viruses such as enteroviruses, which may be polio or non-polio, West Nile virus, and adenoviruses. Other agents include environmental toxins, Guillain- barre syndrome, and genetic disorders. AFM can last for a period of two to five days and then go away. There is no geographical area where the issue occurs; however, most of the cases have been reported in the United States. AFM may spread from one person to another, through a vector or even through a mosquito. These are the known ways in which the disease is transmitted.
AFM could be an outbreak that is communicable since it can be spread from one person to another. Exposure to environmental toxins can also lead to a person contracting the illness. Therefore the illness is communicable since, for instance, according to the case study, even the other siblings seem to show the same signs and symptoms as those of Sam. The main risk factor for illness is age (Hopkins, 2017). Anyone can get AFM, but it is more common in children. Also, according to research done in the past, it has been reported that people of the male sex have a higher chance of contracting the illness than females.
Patients from other related cases also have similar signs and symptoms. Most patients fall ill for about two to five days as it should be since this is the period it takes for the illness to occur. Some of the differences, however that can be seen are that Sam has fallen ill for a longer time, unlike his siblings, for instance. In my opinion, I could interpret these results by stating that it depends on the immunity of a person. If one has strong immunity, then there are lower chances of getting AFM. Even if one is diagnosed with the illness, a person with a strong immune system will recover within two to five days.
The best way of reporting this case would be stating all the facts first about the illness, that is, the causes, symptoms, and risk factors. After that, I would then connect all the information to the report on Sam, and they make a clear connection. Since the common agents for AFM are toxins and viruses, I would recommend that persons maintain hygiene (Rianna & Radmacher, 2016). For instance, persons should wash their hands often with soap and water, clean and disinfect surfaces, and avoid touching ones face with unwashed hands.
References
Dyda, A., Stelzer-Braid, S., Adam, D., Chughtai, A. A., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2018). The association between acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) and Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is the evidence for causation?. Eurosurveillance, 23(3), 17-00310.
Hopkins, S. E. (2017). Acute flaccid myelitis: etiologic challenges, diagnostic, and management considerations. Current Treatment Options in Neurology, 19(12), 48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11940-017-0480-3
Rianna, C., & Radmacher, M. (2016) Cell mechanics as a marker for diseases: biomedical applications of AFM. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1760, No. 1, p. 020057). AIP Publishing LLC. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960276