{"id":54096,"date":"2016-10-30T15:18:27","date_gmt":"2016-10-30T19:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=54096"},"modified":"2016-10-30T16:11:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-30T20:11:06","slug":"54096","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=54096","title":{"rendered":"Why are mysterious childhood ailments rarely attributed to their aggressive vaccination schedules?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><strong>Her toddler suddenly paralyzed, mother tries to solve a vexing medical mystery<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_54097\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/la-me-polio-paralysis-video.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-54097\" class=\"size-full wp-image-54097\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/la-me-polio-paralysis-video.jpg\" alt=\"Lucian Olivera suffers from acute flaccid myelitis, which causes polio-like symptoms.\" width=\"650\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/la-me-polio-paralysis-video.jpg 650w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/la-me-polio-paralysis-video-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-54097\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lucian Olivera suffers from acute flaccid myelitis, which causes polio-like symptoms.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"trb_ar_page\" data-role=\"pagination_page\" data-content-page=\"1\">\n<p><span class=\"trb_ar_by_nm_pm\"><span class=\"trb_ar_by_nm_au\" data-byline-withoutby=\"\">Soumya Karlamangla<br \/>\nLos Angeles Times<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Erin Olivera waited weeks for doctors to tell her why her youngest son was paralyzed.<\/p>\n<p>Ten-month-old Lucian had started crawling oddly \u2014 his left leg dragging behind his right \u2014 and soon was unable to lift his head, following Erin only with his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>She took him to a hospital in Los Angeles, but doctors there didn\u2019t know how to treat what they saw.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian\u2019s legs felt soft as jelly and he couldn\u2019t move them. His breathing became\u00a0rapid. The left side of his smile <a href=\"http:\/\/scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/313904_3448231335036_1161692753_n.jpg?oh=148363ca2b79a207cc67d4ce276e8256&amp;oe=5856060C\" target=\"_blank\">drooped<\/a>\u00a0as his\u00a0muscles weakened.<\/p>\n<p>Physicians ran test after test, and Erin began spending her nights\u00a0on a hospital room couch.\u00a0After Lucian fell asleep, during her only\u00a0minutes alone between working and visiting her three other kids, she cried.<\/p>\n<p>A terrifying reality was taking hold: Doctors\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be able to give her a diagnosis for her paralyzed child.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91749905\" data-content-size=\"large\" data-content-type=\"pullquote\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477062039-snap-embed-quote\" data-content-subtype=\"pullquote\" data-role=\"sc_item\" data-state=\"\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\"><span class=\"trb_pullquote_text\">How can I make a decision for him when I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s wrong?<\/span><span class=\"trb_pullquote_credit\">\u2014 Erin Olivera<\/span><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91750879\" data-content-size=\"large\" data-content-type=\"image\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477070367-snap-photo\" data-content-subtype=\"photo\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer lightbox_container \" data-state=\"\" data-embed-id=\"91750879\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_modalBox\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<figure class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_figure\" data-role=\"imgsize_item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_img\" title=\"Lucian Olivera, center, touches the face of his brother, Nikolas, with his cold hand, a result of holding a bag of ice, while inside the kitchen of their home in Moorpark.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4d4c\/turbine\/la-1477070367-snap-photo\/750\/750x422\" alt=\"Lucian Olivera, center, touches the face of his brother, Nikolas, with his cold hand, a result of holding a bag of ice, while inside the kitchen of their home in Moorpark.\" data-baseurl=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4d4c\/turbine\/la-1477070367-snap-photo\" data-c-nd=\"2048x1152\" data-ratio=\"16x9\" data-width=\"750\" data-height=\"450\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\">\n<h5 class=\"trb_embed_related_credit_and_caption\">Lucian Olivera, center, touches the face of his brother, Nikolas, with his cold hand, a result of holding a bag of ice, while inside the kitchen of their home in Moorpark. (Mel Melcon \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cHow can I make a decision for him when I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s wrong?\u201d she said. \u201cWhat can I do to help him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So one morning in July of 2012, Erin lifted Lucian\u00a0out of his hospital bed, his body limp and heavy.\u00a0She rested\u00a0his cheek on her shoulder,\u00a0the way he liked to be held since he\u2019d become weak.<\/p>\n<p>Erin returned home to Ventura County with a child she thought might never learn to walk.<\/p>\n<p>In the years since, hundreds of children across the country have shown up at hospitals unable to move their arms or legs.\u00a0Dozens of kids have become\u00a0paralyzed in the past few months alone.<\/p>\n<p>They suffer from a mysterious illness that continues to alarm and puzzle scientists. This kind of sudden and devastating paralysis hasn\u2019t been widespread since the days of polio.\u00a0Lucian, one of the disease\u2019s\u00a0earliest victims,\u00a0set off a hunt among doctors to discover its cause.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before Lucian got sick, he liked to sit on the floor in the kitchen of his home in Moorpark, his small hands pressed against the glass door to the backyard as he tried to stand. He\u2019d roll around, babbling at the dogs outside.<\/p>\n<p>The child Erin brought home from the hospital didn\u2019t have enough strength to crawl and couldn\u2019t always sit up on his own.<\/p>\n<p>On his first birthday, three weeks after he came home, Erin and her husband Israel propped Lucian up with pillows in a high chair. He <a href=\"http:\/\/scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/391382_3579987588860_1625499124_n.jpg?oh=b62fb78eeb897096d6edd79a5615858f&amp;oe=5840B13C\" target=\"_blank\">giggled<\/a>\u00a0as he smeared red frosting on his bare chest and in his blonde hair.<\/p>\n<p>After the kids went to bed in the evenings, Erin and Israel would whisper about Lou-Lou, as they called him. When Erin was pregnant, the couple had decided Lucian would be their last child. They wanted to save money, perhaps take a family vacation. Erin would focus on graduating from nursing school.<\/p>\n<p>Now the future felt\u00a0upended by questions about their youngest son \u2014 whether he\u2019d ever be able to drive a car, get married, have kids.<\/p>\n<p>They took him\u00a0to more doctors, but that failed to bring a diagnosis, let alone a treatment.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91750963\" data-content-size=\"small\" data-content-type=\"image\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477070838-snap-photo\" data-content-subtype=\"photo\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer lightbox_container \" data-state=\"\" data-embed-id=\"91750963\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_modalBox\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<figure class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_figure\" data-role=\"imgsize_item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_img\" title=\"Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas play on a trampoline at their home in Moorpark.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4f21\/turbine\/la-1477070838-snap-photo\/400\/400x225\" alt=\"Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas play on a trampoline at their home in Moorpark.\" data-baseurl=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4f21\/turbine\/la-1477070838-snap-photo\" data-c-nd=\"2048x1298\" data-ratio=\"16x9\" data-width=\"400\" data-height=\"250\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\">\n<h5 class=\"trb_embed_related_credit_and_caption\">Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas play on a trampoline at their home in Moorpark. (Mel Melcon \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Through months of physical therapy, Lucian\u00a0eventually regained strength in most of his limbs, but still couldn\u2019t move his left leg at all.\u00a0When he crawled, it dragged behind.<\/p>\n<p>Desperate, Erin resorted to endless Internet searches looking for clues about her son\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n<p>Then one day, she came across an article online about a dozen paralyzed kids. She immediately thought of Lucian.<\/p>\n<p>The article mentioned <a href=\"http:\/\/med.stanford.edu\/profiles\/keith-vanharen\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Keith Van Haren<\/a>, a <a id=\"OREDU0000292\" title=\"Stanford University\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/topic\/education\/colleges-universities\/stanford-university-OREDU0000292-topic.html\">Stanford University<\/a> child neurologist who had diagnosed many of the other cases.<\/p>\n<p>She called him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Around the time Lucian first got sick in 2012, Van Haren was\u00a0flummoxed by a young girl\u00a0who\u2019d just shown up at his clinic at Stanford.<\/p>\n<p>The 3-year-old had been at home recovering from a bad cold when she suddenly couldn\u2019t move her arm. Weeks later, it still hung from her body like dead weight, flopping wildly when she walked.<\/p>\n<p>The paralysis struck Van Haren as unusual.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors had been treating her for an autoimmune disease, as if her body were wrongly attacking its own cells. But if that were the case, her arm wouldn\u2019t be so limp nor would the paralysis be so limited to one spot;\u00a0Van Haren would expect other parts of her body also to be somewhat weak.<\/p>\n<p>This, Van Haren thought, looked more like the most infamous cause of paralysis: polio. But it was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/polio\/us\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">eradicated<\/a> so long ago in the United States that most doctors here have never seen a case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know about it through history books,\u201d said Van Haren, then just two years out of training.<\/p>\n<p>The girl had been vaccinated against polio. Van Haren didn\u2019t know what to tell her parents.<\/p>\n<p>When he contacted California\u2019s health department about the odd case, he learned that scientists there had already developed a hunch.<\/p>\n<p>A handful of physicians had seen patients with similar symptoms and asked Dr. Carol Glaser to test them for\u00a0polio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought, \u2018Well that\u2019s crazy. We don\u2019t have polio here,\u201d said Glaser, then head of the encephalitis and special investigations section at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/programs\/dcdc\/pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">California Department of Public Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Glaser quickly determined the patients weren\u2019t suffering from polio. She also tested for pathogens that can sometimes cause such paralysis, including West Nile virus. All negative.<\/p>\n<p>Then she\u00a0decided to check for other viruses in the same family as poliovirus, known as enterovirus. And in some of the paralyzed patients, she found a possible culprit: enterovirus D-68.<\/p>\n<p>Enterovirus D-68 was incredibly rare, almost never seen after it was first <a href=\"http:\/\/aje.oxfordjournals.org\/content\/85\/2\/297.long\" target=\"_blank\">discovered<\/a> in 1962 in four California children who had pneumonia. Though a cousin of poliovirus, it\u00a0was only supposed to cause a runny nose and cough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"trb_ar_page\" data-role=\"pagination_page\" data-content-page=\"2\" data-state=\"pagination_viewed\">\n<p>Van Haren had never heard of it.<\/p>\n<p>Glaser asked Van Haren to consult for the health department, and together they watched for more paralysis cases. Their findings were preliminary, but what if they were accurate? What if there were an outbreak?<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the middle of the night, Erin sped past crop fields and cattle ranches on the 5 Freeway, headed north to Stanford. Israel sat next to her in the passenger seat, Lucian asleep in the back.<\/p>\n<p>Erin had found\u00a0some peace from visiting a polio survivors group at a senior center. The survivors, who reminded her of Lucian, told her they\u2019d lived full, happy lives. Don\u2019t limit us, they\u2019d said.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Erin showed up for a 10 a.m. appointment with Van Haren hoping for a chance of full recovery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to your forehead?\u201d asked Lucian, as Van Haren entered the exam room.<\/p>\n<p>Van Haren explained to Lucian, now 2-years-old,\u00a0that he had a birthmark.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes it cause you pain?\u201d Lucian asked.<\/p>\n<p>Van Haren said it didn\u2019t, and told Erin and Israel that the question bothered him. Erin thought her son had insulted the doctor.<\/p>\n<p>But Van Haren explained that he was sorry that that was Lucian\u2019s first question. That meant, he said, that Lucian knew pain.<\/p>\n<p>Van Haren began to examine Lucian\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n<p>It was 2014, two years since Van Haren first treated the young girl with the paralyzed arm.<\/p>\n<p>By now Van Haren, who himself had small children, had grown accustomed to identifying the unique paralysis and relaying the tragic verdict.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91723856\" data-content-size=\"small\" data-content-type=\"story\" data-content-slug=\"la-sci-sn-screen-time-kids-pediatricians-20161020-snap\" data-content-subtype=\"story\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer \" data-state=\"\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<figure class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_figure\" data-role=\"imgsize_item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_img\" title=\"Pediatricians weigh in on a fraught issue facing parents today: How much screen time is OK?\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-58055887\/turbine\/la-sci-sn-screen-time-kids-pediatricians-20161020-snap\/400\/400x225\" alt=\"Pediatricians weigh in on a fraught issue facing parents today: How much screen time is OK?\" data-baseurl=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-58055887\/turbine\/la-sci-sn-screen-time-kids-pediatricians-20161020-snap\" data-c-nd=\"2048x1365\" data-ratio=\"16x9\" data-width=\"400\" data-height=\"250\" \/><\/figure>\n<h5 class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\"><a class=\"trb_embed_media_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/science\/sciencenow\/la-sci-sn-screen-time-kids-pediatricians-20161020-snap-story.html\"><span class=\"trb_embed_related_title\">Pediatricians weigh in on a fraught issue facing parents today: How much screen time is OK?<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>One, two, three or four limbs paralyzed. Sudden onset. No cognitive changes.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian fit the bill.<\/p>\n<p>Within minutes,\u00a0Van Haren delivered the diagnosis: polio-like paralysis likely caused by enterovirus D-68.<\/p>\n<p>Erin\u2019s nose turned red like it does when she tears up.<\/p>\n<p>Van Haren told her there were other children like Lucian, and that doctors were learning more about the disease every day.<\/p>\n<p>He said Lucian should continue physical therapy, but there was no cure. Chances were Lucian would never move his left leg.<\/p>\n<p>As they headed back home, Erin, who was driving, waited for Lucian to fall asleep in the backseat. Then she started to cry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After Erin and Israel returned home with Lucian\u2019s\u00a0diagnosis, the mystery paralysis began to spread.<\/p>\n<p>In late summer of 2014, enterovirus D-68 started sending kids struggling to breathe to emergency rooms around the country. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-health-officials-confirm-first-2014-california-cases-of-enterovirus-20140918-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">News reports<\/a> called it a rare, cold-causing virus, a danger to children with asthma.<\/p>\n<p>But then an 11-year-old boy in Texas with a seemingly normal fever lost the ability to walk and move his right arm.<\/p>\n<p>A 17-year-old girl in Santa Barbara experienced severe neck pain at her birthday party and ended up in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down.<\/p>\n<p>In Oregon, a 13-year-old boy\u2019s diaphragm stopped working, so he needed a ventilator to breathe. He was completely paralyzed, able only to wiggle his toes and his right hand.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever was happening to these children was \u201cpretty much, literally, exactly, what polio did,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrensmercy.org\/findadoctor\/details\/4248\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Jean-Baptiste Le Pichon<\/a>, a child neurologist who treated four such patients in 2014 at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrensmercy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Children\u2019s Mercy Hospital<\/a> in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n<p>Glaser watched from California as the numbers of paralyzed kids grew. She became horrified that her theory about enterovirus D-68 might be correct.<\/p>\n<p>That October, Van Haren spoke at a national meeting of child neurologists. He asked 300 specialists how many of them had seen these kinds of paralysis cases in the past few months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than half the hands in the room went up,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors coined a name for the phenomenon: acute flaccid myelitis. \u201cAcute flaccid\u201d for the sudden and total paralysis and \u201cmyelitis\u201d for an injury to part of the spinal cord involved in muscle movement, called the gray matter.<\/p>\n<p>Between August 2014 and January 2015, <a href=\"http:\/\/cid.oxfordjournals.org\/content\/early\/2016\/06\/17\/cid.ciw372.short?rss=1\" target=\"_blank\">120 children<\/a> in 34 states were diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, according to federal health officials. The median patient age was 7.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91749906\" data-content-size=\"large\" data-content-type=\"pullquote\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477062040.0-snap-embed-quote\" data-content-subtype=\"pullquote\" data-role=\"sc_item\" data-state=\"\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<p><span class=\"trb_pullquote_text\">Physicians are still baffled that no one had noticed the possible risk of paralysis before.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91750902\" data-content-size=\"large\" data-content-type=\"image\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477070620-snap-photo\" data-content-subtype=\"photo\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer lightbox_container \" data-state=\"\" data-embed-id=\"91750902\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_modalBox\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<figure class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_figure\" data-role=\"imgsize_item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_img\" title=\"Physical trainer Kelsey Stewart reacts with Lucian Olivera as he successfully knocks over a fake brick with a ball during a session at the Simi Valley Hospital Child Development Center.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4e45\/turbine\/la-1477070620-snap-photo\/750\/750x422\" alt=\"Physical trainer Kelsey Stewart reacts with Lucian Olivera as he successfully knocks over a fake brick with a ball during a session at the Simi Valley Hospital Child Development Center.\" data-baseurl=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4e45\/turbine\/la-1477070620-snap-photo\" data-c-nd=\"2048x1152\" data-ratio=\"16x9\" data-width=\"750\" data-height=\"450\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\">\n<h5 class=\"trb_embed_related_credit_and_caption\">Physical trainer Kelsey Stewart reacts with Lucian Olivera as he successfully knocks over a fake brick with a ball during a session at the Simi Valley Hospital Child Development Center. (Mel Melcon \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Erin hoped the new cases would lead to a cure for her son.<\/p>\n<p>But doctors say that though the\u00a0disabled children\u00a0can\u00a0regain strength in some limbs, there\u2019s usually also some paralysis that cannot be reversed \u2014 just like with polio.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists think a virus travels to the spinal cord and damages motor function there, irreversibly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Holding the red handles of his walker, Lucian, 5, jumped up and down and told his brother Nikolas to put on his shoes faster. Kids shout, skee balls thump, arcade games cha-ching.<\/p>\n<p>The boys stood on either side of Erin, pulling at her skirt as she talked to the cashier at Chuck E. Cheese&#8217;s.\u00a0\u201cWe need tokens! We need tokens!\u201d they chanted.<\/p>\n<p>A year apart in age, Nikolas and Lucian share the same round, bright eyes and blondish hair. Sometimes they try to pass for twins.<\/p>\n<p>Four years after being hospitalized, Lucian wears braces on both legs \u2014 the one on his left leg decorated with Spider-Man designs, the right with skulls. When he uses his wheeled walker, he steps with his right leg, pulling his left behind him. His left leg is still completely paralyzed.<\/p>\n<p>Israel stopped working so he could take care of Lucian. Erin often works 64 hours a week as a hospital psychiatric nurse so the couple can pay their bills.<\/p>\n<p>Erin and Israel abandoned their 10-year plan, as well as dreams of buying their oldest son a car when he turned 16, or a vacation home.\u00a0Their priorities have instead become much more short-term.<\/p>\n<p>Over the summer, the biggest one was kindergarten.<\/p>\n<p>They knew Lucian would do fine academically, he often seemed precociously intuitive and observant.<\/p>\n<p>But would he use a walker or a wheelchair? Would he be in special needs classes? Would they be able to potty-train him on time? Would he need an aide in the classroom? And the most agonizing: would he fit in?<\/p>\n<p>Erin had seen Lucian sitting alone at playgrounds, watching other kids run around. Erin and Israel stayed up at night worrying about how to deal with bullies, joking about \u201cwho\u2019s going to bail which one of us out of jail first,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"trb_ar_page\" data-role=\"pagination_page\" data-content-page=\"3\" data-state=\"pagination_viewed\">\n<p>Lucian is too young to fully grasp his disability. He knows he can\u2019t run or walk on his own, and that makes him unlike other kids. And when he meets new people, he squints his eyes as if he\u2019s trying to read their face, to understand them \u2014 how they\u2019ll react to him.<\/p>\n<p>But if you ask Lucian why he uses a walker, he\u2019ll blame his older sister, who fell on and fractured his leg two years ago. His parents have repeatedly told him that isn\u2019t why he\u2019s paralyzed, but he doesn\u2019t seem to hear.<\/p>\n<p>That half-understanding sometimes protects Lucian from the pain of his injury\u2019s permanence. But it also means each day could bring a new reckoning of his life\u2019s limitations.<\/p>\n<p>A few months ago, Lucian asked his parents for an injection. \u201cIt\u2019ll fix my leg and it\u2019ll be like Niko\u2019s,\u201d he said, using his pet name for Nikolas.<\/p>\n<p>Erin told Lucian what she had many times before: his disability is permanent, there\u2019s no miracle treatment. His leg would get stronger over time, with exercise, but it would never be like his brother\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian angrily pursed his lips and his eyebrows tensed. He went silent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Between June and August this year, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/acute-flaccid-myelitis\/afm-surveillance.html\" target=\"_blank\">another 30 children<\/a>\u00a0nationwide became paralyzed, and scientists still don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"84109884\" data-content-size=\"small\" data-content-type=\"story\" data-content-slug=\"la-most-read-stories-this-hour\" data-content-subtype=\"story\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer \" data-state=\"\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\"><a class=\"trb_embed_media_link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/la-most-read-stories-this-hour-story.html\"><span class=\"trb_embed_related_title\">See the most-read stories this hour &gt;&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Dr. Manisha Patel, who heads the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/acute-flaccid-myelitis\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">acute flaccid myelitis team<\/a> for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency is concerned by the increase and its resemblance to 2014. Experts think case numbers for September and October will be even higher.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s not much public health officials can do, because the paralysis\u00a0officially remains\u00a0a medical mystery.<\/p>\n<p>Many suspect that enterovirus D-68 \u2014\u00a0which gave hundreds of people a severe cold in 2014 \u2014\u00a0also caused the paralysis outbreak that year.\u00a0Some of the paralyzed children had enterovirus D-68 in their system, and researchers have found that\u00a0injecting mice with enterovirus D-68 paralyzes them.<\/p>\n<p>But to confirm the link, doctors\u00a0need to find enterovirus D-68 in the paralyzed children\u2019s cerebrospinal fluid, to show that the virus traveled to the spinal cord and created the injury there \u2014 which they haven\u2019t yet.<\/p>\n<p>And physicians\u00a0are still baffled that no one had\u00a0noticed the possible risk of paralysis before.<\/p>\n<p>Some think there hadn\u2019t ever been enough cases of enterovirus D-68 to unmask the horrifying side effect; only\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/ss5508a1.htm\" target=\"_blank\">26 people<\/a>\u00a0tested positive for the virus in\u00a036 years. Another possibility is that enterovirus D-68 recently mutated to become more likely to paralyze those infected.<\/p>\n<p>For now, experts say that enterovirus D-68 isn\u2019t enough of a threat to make a vaccine and that many people now have immunity to the virus from the 2014 outbreak. Plus, it will probably mutate again, rendering a vaccine that protects against the current strain useless.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou kind of hold your breath and hope it doesn\u2019t get worse,\u201d Van Haren said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>::<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lucian had been too excited about his first day of kindergarten to eat his Cheerios in the morning, instead unzipping his backpack and removing folders and papers.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"trb_embed\" data-content-id=\"91750959\" data-content-size=\"large\" data-content-type=\"image\" data-content-slug=\"la-1477070780-snap-photo\" data-content-subtype=\"photo\" data-role=\"sc_item imgsize_ratiosizecontainer lightbox_container \" data-state=\"\" data-embed-id=\"91750959\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_modalBox\">\n<div class=\"trb_embed_media\">\n<figure class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_figure\" data-role=\"imgsize_item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"trb_embed_imageContainer_img\" title=\"Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas attend Peach Hill Academy Elementary School in Moorpark on the first day of school.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4ee7\/turbine\/la-1477070780-snap-photo\/750\/750x422\" alt=\"Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas attend Peach Hill Academy Elementary School in Moorpark on the first day of school.\" data-baseurl=\"http:\/\/www.trbimg.com\/img-580a4ee7\/turbine\/la-1477070780-snap-photo\" data-c-nd=\"2048x1152\" data-ratio=\"16x9\" data-width=\"750\" data-height=\"450\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"trb_embed_related\" data-role=\"lightbox_metadata\">\n<h5 class=\"trb_embed_related_credit_and_caption\">Lucian Olivera, left, and his brother Nikolas attend Peach Hill Academy Elementary School in Moorpark on the first day of school. (Mel Melcon \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But walking from the minivan to the school \u2014 a taxing process of pulling his left leg with the right, today with the added weight of his bag and lunchbox \u2014 had tired him by 8 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>In his new\u00a0classroom, Lucian sat cross-legged at the edge of a colorful rug, his walker to his left. When his teacher took attendance, he turned around to grin at Israel, sitting in the back.<\/p>\n<p>Israel got permission from the school to stay with Lucian on his first day, unsure if the boy would be able to manage on his own. When Erin left an hour prior, Lucian called after her, his eyes wide with panic.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian\u2019s teacher Taylor Severn began to teach the class a game: the kids dance to music and freeze when she shakes a tambourine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to stand up with my walker,\u201d Lucian announced to the class.<\/p>\n<p>The song started and Lucian gripped the handles of his walker, happily shaking his body and kicking his legs. He froze. He danced.<\/p>\n<p>When Severn turned off the music, the students plopped to the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian pushed his walker back. He bent over and put his palms on the rug to slowly lower himself. He pulled his left leg over the right so he was sitting cross-legged. He clasped his hands together and fixed his eyes on his teacher.<\/p>\n<p>At 10 a.m. recess, Israel decided to go home earlier than he\u2019d planned, since Lucian seemed to be doing OK.<\/p>\n<p>He watched his son pull a toy out of a bin on the yard, extending his arm as he tried to land a tethered ball into a cup. Kids around him hula-hooped and took turns on tricycles.<\/p>\n<p>A boy asked Lucian about his walker, and he pointed to his left leg and sheepishly explained that his sister fell on it when they were playing.<\/p>\n<p>Israel walked over to Lucian, who was now at a lunch table eating a Rice Krispie treat.<\/p>\n<p>He kissed his son and headed to his car.<\/p>\n<p>Lucian, talking to the girl across from him, didn\u2019t turn around to watch him leave.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/california\/la-me-polio-paralysis-20160823-snap-story.html\">http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/california\/la-me-polio-paralysis-20160823-snap-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Her toddler suddenly paralyzed, mother tries to solve a vexing medical mystery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}