Washington (October 23, 2018) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar seeking additional information on HHS’s inter-agency efforts to address acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). AFM is a rare condition with symptoms consistent with several neurological disorders, and may sometimes present after a viral infection. AFM most frequently affects children under the age of 18. As of this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating 155 reported AFM cases nationwide.

“We must be leveraging the capacity within the National Institutes of Health — and particularly the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — to conduct and support basic science research to help unlock the etiological mysteries of AFM,” wrote Senator Markey. “Children and families across the country need answers, and the peculiarities of this baffling condition require the expertise of multiple federal agencies to bolster and complement the CDC’s response.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

CDC began tracking AFM in 2014. It detected biennial surges in cases in 2016 and this year, predominantly in the summer and fall seasons. In addition to surveilling and studying cases of AFM, the CDC is working with state and local health departments to detect, investigate, and disseminate information to communities and families about how to best prevent AFM. However, given the lack of information currently available on the causes, risk factors, and long-term effects of AFM, it is important that HHS use the different strengths and charges of its various agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, to fully investigate AFM and provide answers to these important questions.

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