Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)
Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP):
A clinical syndrome that refers to a collection of signs and symptoms rather than a diagnosis. AFP is defined by the acute onset of weakness or paralysis with reduced muscle tone in children or any paralytic illness in a person of any age when polio is clinically suspected.
Causes of AFP:
- Infections due to poliovirus
- Other non-polio viruses such as enterovirus
What are the main symptoms?
- Facial droop or weakness
- Weakness and loss of muscle tone in the limbs
- Difficulty moving the eyes or drooping eyelids
- Difficulty swallowing or slurred speech
Other symptoms suggestive of the presence of AFP
- Inability to walk or sit up
- Frequent falls
- Numbness or tingling (rare)
- Inability to pass urine
How is AFP treated?
If your child develops sudden weakness or paralysis, see your healthcare provider right away. They will conduct a variety of tests to determine the cause. Treatment includes supportive care for symptoms.
Prevention of AFP
There is no specific action you can take to prevent AFP as certain viruses are known to cause it. However, you can protect yourself and others by:
- Regularly cleaning surfaces
- Practicing proper hygiene measures like regular handwashing
- Maintaining high polio vaccine uptake rates in the population
- Using disposable tissues to cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing
Vaccination
There is no vaccination to protect against the clinical conditions of AFP. However, there is a vaccine to protect against infections caused by poliovirus.
AFP is a symptom not a disease.
Conditions that are always associated with AFP:
- Poliomyelitis
- Guillain-Barre Syndrome
- Transverse myelitis
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Infectious & toxic neuropathies
- Myasthenia gravis
- Porphyria
- Botulism
- Hemiparesis
Sometimes associated
- Hypokalemic paralysis
- Muscle hypotonia
- Meningitis
- POTT’s disease
- Osteomyelitis