ICU beds and ventilator supplies are already thin on the ground in many parts of the US due to a spike in new coronavirus infections.<br />But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict demand will increase in 2020, due to a predictable outbreak of a different disease.<br />UPI reports AFM, or acute flaccid myelitis, is a rare nervous system condition affecting the grey matter of the spinal cord.<br />It causes muscles and reflexes to become weak. Symptoms include sudden arm or leg weakness and loss of muscle tone and reflexes.<br />The disease can progress rapidly, leading to permanent paralysis and life-threatening respiratory failure in previously healthy patients.<br />An outbreak is expected this year because spikes in confirmed cases have occurred in the United States every two years since 2014.<br />In 2018, 90% of the 238 cases of AFM diagnosed in 2018 involved children around 5 years old.
