MedPageToday A 9-year-old girl in Michigan recently made the news after suddenly finding herself unable to walk during a bout with the flu. Before that, she experienced typical flu symptoms like fever, chills, and fatigue, and had plenty of rest and hydration.
“When the fever broke after a few days, I thought she was turning a corner,” the girl’s mother told Newsweek. “Then suddenly, she started complaining of intense pain in both legs.”
After blood work and urinalysis, emergency department doctors diagnosed the girl with benign acute childhood myositis (BACM), a very rare, temporary complication of influenza and other infectious diseases that can occur predominantly in school-age kids, mostly boys.