Health Canada is closely monitoring several cases of a rare illness that mostly affects children and can cause paralysis.
CTV reports that 2 Montreal hospitals have treated 6 cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in recent months.
There has been a reported spike in the number of cases of the rare polio like illness in the U.S. this year and more than two dozen Canadian children are also believed to have developed the condition.
“To date in 2018, 25 probable cases and 5 confirmed cases of sudden onset muscle weakness in children have been reported,” Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) spokesperson Anna Maddison told CTV News in a written statement. All of those children are under the age of 15.
There have been 62 confirmed cases in the U.S. this year and 93 potential cases are under investigation. There has also been one death.
AFM affects the spinal cord and nervous system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that AFM is linked to a virus.
Symptoms include loss of function in one or more limbs, drooping of the face or eyelids and slurred speech.
Doctors are telling parents not to be alarmed, that the illness is very rare, and the risk extremely low for a child to become infected.
They are advising parents to seek immediate medical attention if their child displays any limb weakness or paralysis and recommend taking precautions, including frequent hand washing and wiping down of surfaces.
With files from CTV.