Mystery Paralysis Illness br Hits Record Number of br Children in US 311 reports of acute flaccid myelitis br (AFM) have been reported in 2018. The illness causes kids to br lose the ability to move their br face, neck, back, arms or legs. The wave of U.S. cases br spiked in September and br have tapered off since then. The disease br has spread br across 36 states. Texas and Colorado have br reported the most cases br with 21 and 15, respectively. This year, br no one has br died from AFM. But the illness has br claimed lives in the past. Doctors from the br Centers for Disease br Control estimate Dr.