NEW YORK — Health officials are investigating nine cases of muscle weakness or paralysis in Colorado children and whether the culprit is a virus causing severe respiratory illness across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday sent doctors an alert about the polio-like cases and said enterovirus 68 was detected in four out of eight of the sick children who had a certain medical test. The status of the ninth case is unclear.
Health officials don’t know whether the virus caused any of the children’s arm and leg weaknesses or whether it’s just a germ they coincidentally picked up. ‘‘That’s why we want more information,’’ and for doctors to report similar cases, said the CDC’s Dr. Jane Seward.
The Colorado cases occurred within the last two months, and they come amid an unusual wave of severe respiratory illness from enterovirus 68.
Published reports count at least two US children who were paralyzed and died and were found to have the virus in their spinal fluid. One was a New Hampshire 5-year-old who died in 2008.