Health Officials: Polio-like Illness May Have Peaked

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/CNN) — Cases of a mysterious polio-like disease that weakens muscles and leaves children with paralysis may soon taper off, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

United States health officials predict the number of patients with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has peaked and will decline.

There have now been 134 confirmed cases of AFM in 33 states.

Last week, the CDC said that more than 95% of the patients with AFM this year have been children younger than 18, and the average age of those infected was 5. Most of the children with confirmed cases experienced a viral illness with symptoms including fever and cough about three to 10 days before the onset of paralysis, the CDC said this month.

So far, no deaths have been reported.

(©Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report.)