Date published
Children with acute flaccid myelitis are more likely to have antibodies against the viral family in their spinal fluid than are children without the illness. A team of researchers has published evidence that an enterovirus is to blame for a mysterious neurologic illness that has paralyzed nearly 600 children in the US in the last few years. “I think it’s time to stop debating” whether enteroviruses cause AFM, Raina MacIntyre, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney who was not involved in the work, tells Science. “This is very strong evidence.”