About Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) | CDC

About Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) | CDC

About Acute Flaccid Myelitis

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• Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a rare but serious condition. It affects the nervous system, specifically the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the muscles and reflexes in the body to become weak.
• We have seen increases in AFM cases every two years since 2014 and mostly in young children. Still, CDC estimates that less than one to two in a million children in the United States will get AFM every year.
• You may hear AFM referred to as a “polio-like” condition, but all the stool specimens from AFM patients that we received tested negative for poliovirus.