Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM): Clinical Criteria & Symptoms

The World Health Organization has designated the term Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) and suggested the use of the following clinical criteria to identify suspected AFM[2]:

Asymmetric weakness

Acute flaccid paralysis

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spinal cord demonstrating spinal cord lesions largely restricted to gray matter

The individual will have an acute (generally less than 10 days) onset of flaccid limb weakness and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spinal cord will demonstrate spinal cord lesions largely restricted to gray matter.