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Acute flaccid myelitis in Europe between 2016 and 2023: indicating the need for better registration
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Jelte Helfferich1
, Cristina Calvo2,3 , Ekkehardt Alpeter4 , Cristina Andrés2,5 , Andrés Antón2,5 , Melodie Aubart6,7 , Stefania Maria Bova8 , Maria Cabrerizo9 , Karin von Eije10 , Stollar Fabiola11,12 , Ana Felipe13,14 , Ralitsa Iordanova15,16 , Marianne Kragh Thomsen17 , Per Kristian Knudsen18 , Freek van Loenen10 , Noemi Lopez19,20 , Audrey Mirand21 , Richard Molenkamp10 , Sofie Midgley22 , Raquel Neves23 , Lubomira Nikolaeva Glomb24 , Joakim Øverbø25 , Gülten Öztürk26 , Paula Palminha23 , Helle Cecilie Viekilde Pfeiffer27,28 , Birgit Prochazka29 , Carlos Ribeiro23 , Martine Rodesch30 , Isabelle Schuffenecker31 , Jay Shetty32 , Sandy Siegert33 , Silje Lae Solberg34 , Artur Sulik35 , Dilşad Türkdoğan26 , Olcay Ünver26 , Jaco Verweij36 , Jorgina Vila37,38 , Tytti Vuorinen39,40 , Ronny Wickström41 , Thea K Fischer42,43 , Heli Harvala44,45,46,47 , Kimberley S.M. Benschop48
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands 2 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en red de Enfermedades Infecciosas CIBERINFEC, Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain 3 Pediatric Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department, La Paz University Hospital and Translational Research Network in Pediatric Infectious Diseases (RITIP), Institute for Health Research IdiPAZ, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain 4 Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA, Federal Office of Public Health FOPH, Division of Communicable Disease, Bern, Switzerland 5 Respiratory Viruses Unit, Virology Section, Microbiology Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari, Vall d’Hebron Institut of Research (VHIR), Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain 6 Pediatric Neurology Department, Necker-Enfants malades Hospital, AP-HP, Paris, France 7 Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, University of Paris Cité, Institut Imagine, Paris, France 8 Child Neurology Unit, Buzzi Children hospital, Milan, Italy 9 Polio/Enterovirus National Lab, National Centre of Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. CIBERESP and RITIP (Idipaz) 10 Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 11 Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Gynecology & Obstetrics, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland 12 Member of the SPSU (Swiss paediatric Surveillance Unit) committee, Switzerland 13 Paediatric Neurology Research Group, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 14 Paediatric Neurology Section, Children's Hospital, Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 15 Department of Pediatrics UMHAT “St. George” - Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 16 Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria 17 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark 18 Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine and Department of Paediatric Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway 19 Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain 20 CIBERESP, Dpto. Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 21 CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Centre National de référence des entéroviurs et parechovirus-laboratoire coordonnateur, Clermont-Ferrand, France 22 The Danish WHO National Reference Laboratory for Poliovirus, Section for Virus Genomics, Department of Virus & Microbiological Preparedness, Division of Infectious Disease Diagnostic Preparedness, Copenhagen, Denmark 23 National Reference Laboratory for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal 24 National Reference Laboratory for Enteroviruses, National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria 25 The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Oslo, Norway 26 Department of pediatric neurology, Marmara University, Istanbul, Türkiye 27 Department of Pediatrics, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark 28 Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 29 AGES, Wien, Austria 30 Department of pediatrics, Hôpital Erasme, Brussels, Belgium 31 Department of Virology, National Reference Centre for Enteroviruses and Parechoviruses, Associated Laboratory, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CHU Lyon, Lyon, France 32 Department of Paediatric Neurosciences, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh, United Kingdom 33 Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Allergology and Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria 34 Department of Infection Control and Vaccines, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway 35 Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland 36 Microvida Laboratory for Medical Microbiology and Immunology, ElisabethTweesteden Hospital, Tilburg, The Netherlands 37 Infection and Immunity Research Group, Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 38 Paediatric Hospitalization Unit, Children's Hospital, Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 39 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland 40 Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland 41 Neuropediatric Unit, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden 42 Department of Public Health, Section of Global Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 43 Department of Clinical Research, North Zealand University Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark 44 Department of Infection and Immunity, University College of London, London, United Kingdom 45 Microbiology Services, National Health Service (NHS) Blood and Transplant, London, United Kingdom 46 Department of Clinical Microbiology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland 47 Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland 48 Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the NetherlandsJelte Helfferichj.helfferich umcg.nl
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Citation style for this article: Helfferich Jelte, Calvo Cristina, Alpeter Ekkehardt, Andrés Cristina, Antón Andrés, Aubart Melodie, Bova Stefania Maria, Cabrerizo Maria, von Eije Karin, Fabiola Stollar, Felipe Ana, Iordanova Ralitsa, Thomsen Marianne Kragh, Knudsen Per Kristian, van Loenen Freek, Lopez Noemi, Mirand Audrey, Molenkamp Richard, Midgley Sofie, Neves Raquel, Glomb Lubomira Nikolaeva, Øverbø Joakim, Öztürk Gülten, Palminha Paula, Viekilde Pfeiffer Helle Cecilie, Prochazka Birgit, Ribeiro Carlos, Rodesch Martine, Schuffenecker Isabelle, Shetty Jay, Siegert Sandy, Solberg Silje Lae, Sulik Artur, Türkdoğan Dilşad, Ünver Olcay, Verweij Jaco, Vila Jorgina, Vuorinen Tytti, Wickström Ronny, Fischer Thea K, Harvala Heli, Benschop Kimberley S.M.. Acute flaccid myelitis in Europe between 2016 and 2023: indicating the need for better registration. Euro Surveill. 2025;30(21):pii=2400579. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2025.30.21.2400579 Received: 30 Aug 2024; Accepted: 02 Feb 2025
Abstract
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) is a rare polio-like condition affecting mainly children and characterised by severe, often persistent, weakness. It is one of several causes of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), which manifests as acute onset of limb weakness and reduced muscle tone. Some non-polio enteroviruses (EV), such as EV-D68 may cause AFM. Little is known about AFM incidence in Europe.
We aimed to better understand AFM incidence, aetiology and current surveillance policies in Europe.
In 28 countries, members of the European non-polio enterovirus network (ENPEN) and a newly established AFM network of clinicians under ENPEN received a survey asking them how AFM surveillance was performed in their countries in 2016−2023 and the numbers of AFM cases including those diagnosed with EV-D68 infection during this period.
Surveillance information was obtained for 16 countries. In eight countries, AFP surveillance initiated for poliomyelitis eradication was still ongoing, while non-polio AFM cases were only systematically reported in Norway. The survey revealed 130 AFM cases for 14 countries, with 48 (37%) EV-D68-laboratory-confirmed. Among the AFM cases, 70% (n = 91) occurred in 2016, 2018 and 2022, when EV-D68 circulation increased.
This report provides some indication of AFM case numbers in Europe since 2016. However, as 15 of 16 countries with AFM monitoring information lacked structural AFM surveillance, numbers should be interpreted with caution. Knowing AFM incidence matters to determine its impact and detect future outbreaks. Thus, the newly established clinical network will develop a European AFM repository.

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