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OUTBREAK OF PARALYTIC ILLNESS OF UNKNOWN ETIOLOGY IN ALBACETE, SPAIN

1971; Oxford University Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a121341

1476-6256

Ligia Rojas Valenciano, E Nájera, F. Pérez Gallardo, Antonio González, J. Serrano Enrech,

Vector-borne infectious diseases

Valenciano, L. (Centre Nacional de Virologia y Ecologia Sanitarias, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain), E. Nájera, F. Pérez Gallardo, A. González and J. Enrech. Outbreak of paralytic illness of unknown etiology in Albacete, Spain. Amer J Epidem 94: 450–456, 1971.—In the province of Albacete, Spain (population 371, 000) an outbreak of 25 cases of a neurologic syndrome appeared during the period from August, 1966 to January, 1967. These cases exhibited acute tetraplegia without fever and pleocytosis. All age groups were affected. The syndrome was generally more severe in the youngest cases, and five children died. Postmortem neuropathologic examination of three cases revealed no inflammation of the spinal cord and central nervous system, but there were degenerative lesions in the roots and peripheral nerves; in one case, the cells of the anterior horn of the spinal cord (lumbar and cervical levels) showed intense chromatolysis. The etiology of this syndrome remains unknown. All of the 20 surviving cases recovered completely within a 10-month period.