The patient: An 8-year-old girl in the U.S.
The symptoms: The girl arrived at an emergency department after waking up with sudden, severe pain in her upper back. Within hours of the pain emerging, she developed rapidly worsening weakness in all four limbs, making it impossible for her to stand or walk.
She also reported painful tingling and loss of sensation in her hands, and doctors discovered that she had diminished reflexes and sensory changes beginning at her upper chest and moving down her body. In multiple instances at the hospital, she lost control of her bladder and bowels.
The combination of acute paralysis, severe back pain and incontinence suggested damage to the spinal cord, but the cause wasn't immediately clear, her doctors wrote in a report of the case.
What happened next: The medical team launched an extensive search for the underlying cause. An MRI of her neck and torso showed evidence of extensive inflammation or injury that stretched from her lower neck to the middle of her back. The scan also showed a s...
English (US)