Disease

Mysterious polio-like disease sweeping the US

A six-year-old boy has died after contracting a mysterious paralyzing polio-like disease that is sweeping the US.

Tests revealed he was one of hundreds of children to have recently contracted a rare virus called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), which attacks the brain and the spinal cord. The disease was first identified in 2014 when more than 100 children were hospitalized. Scores of them are yet to make a full recovery. So far, the medical community remains largely ignorant about what causes the disease and how to treat it. The CDC has issued a report warning there has been a surge in the number of children struck down by AFM this year