Guillain-Barre syndrome, acute flaccid myelitis aren't renamed versions of polio | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Polio was renamed to acute flaccid myelitis and Guillain-Barre syndrome

A Jan. 23 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a woman talking about polio and claiming the disease has been renamed. As proof of this, she points to increased cases of other diseases in India after polio was eradicated in the country.

"Acute flaccid myelitis, Guillain Barré, all renames for polio," the post's caption reads in part. "You can’t eradicate something if you keep renaming it."

The post garnered more than 1,000 likes in less than three weeks.

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Our rating: False

Experts said the three disorders are separate diseases with different causes. Patients with paralysis symptoms are tested for poliovirus to determine if they have polio.

Diseases are separate, not renamed versions of polio

Carl Wonders, a spokesperson for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and Dave Daigle, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both told USA TODAY via email that the three diseases are different.

Wonders said that though they can sometimes have overlapping symptoms, such as muscle weakness and nerve damage, they are ultimately separate disorders. Like polio, Guillain-Barre syndrome and acute flaccid myelitis can also cause paralysis

The three conditions vary in both cause and nature.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is caused by the body's immune system, while acute flaccid myelitis, also known as AFM, is a neurological condition without a known cause, Daigle said. Polio is caused by the poliovirus and can infect a person's spinal cord, causing paralysis.

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As the woman in the Instagram video says, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's polio initiative in India helped the country become officially polio-free in 2014.

Pooja Sehgal, a spokesperson for the foundation, told USA TODAY that a "sensitive surveillance system" is in place in India to test children with acute onset paralysis or limb weakness for flaccid paralysis from all possible causes.

"Ongoing reporting of such cases indicates a well-functioning system, and, in turn, provides sufficient evidence of no polio transmission," she said in an email.

Daigle told USA TODAY that one such test is an analysis of stool specimens for the poliovirus from AFM patients, which determines whether or not the case will be considered polio.

The woman in the Instagram post also asserts a link between polio vaccines and increased AFM cases, but Daigle said the CDC hasn't found any evidence that vaccinations cause AFM.

"In 2018, AFM occurred in children who had received vaccines, and also in children who had received no vaccines," Daigle said. "Among the AFM patients reviewed in 2018, about 85% had no recorded vaccinations in the 30 days prior to the beginning of their limb weakness."

No link between polio and non-polio paralysis cases in India

Though the rate of non-polio paralysis cases in India was 77 per 100,000 children in 2023, compared to the global rate of 62, this isn't proof polio cases are being attributed to other diseases. According to data from the World Health Organization, the rate of these cases steadily increased in India from 2002 to 2012, before polio was eradicated in the country, then proceeded to decrease afterward.

The two types of paralysis, polio and non-polio, can also occur at high rates simultaneously. For example, Pakistan is "affected by ongoing endemic wild poliovirus transmission," according to the Global Polio Eradication Institute, yet has an even higher rate of non-polio paralysis cases, at 332 per 100,000 children.

Sehgal told USA TODAY there's no evidence of a concerning trend in the number of non-polio paralysis cases in India or any other polio-free countries.

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USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories, Science Feedback and Reuters previously debunked similar claims.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Polio wasn't renamed in India. Disease was eradicated | Fact check