Flaccid paralysis is a serious medical condition caused by damage to the nervous system, resulting in weak muscles and loss of muscle tone. Causes include disease, injury, and viruses such as polio and botulism. Treatment depends on the cause and can include surgery, antibiotics, and rehabilitation.
Flaccid paralysis is a medical condition characterized by extremely weak muscles and deterioration of muscle tone. This loss of muscle function typically results from disease rather than injury, but is almost always a symptom of damage to the nervous system. This is an abnormal and serious medical situation that requires immediate medical attention. Treatments depend on the cause of the paralysis and can include surgery, antibiotics, and long-term rehabilitation.
Paralysis, a temporary or permanent loss of muscle function, can affect a muscle or muscles in the body and can be partial, allowing the patient to experience some sensation or control, or complete, in which the patient has no sensation or muscle function in the affected area. Patients with flaccid paralysis may feel sensations, but lose voluntary control of muscle movements as muscles weaken due to atrophy or decreased muscle mass. While muscle wasting can occur simply from lack of use, people who develop paralysis could be dealing with a deeper problem called neurogenic atrophy. Neurogenic atrophy tends to have a more sudden onset, resulting from damage to the nervous system rather than from prolonged disuse.
Anterior spinal artery syndrome, also known as Beck syndrome, is one of the most common causes of flaccid paralysis. The anterior spinal artery is responsible for supplying blood to most of the spinal cord, and when it is blocked, as occurs in Beck’s syndrome, the nerves that control muscle function can fail. This usually has to do with plaque buildup in the artery.
Flaccid paralysis can also arise from a disease affecting the nervous system. Paralytic polio, a potentially fatal virus, causes acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), in which the patient suddenly loses reflexes and muscle control. This virus is rare and can almost always be prevented with a polio vaccine. Other viruses, such as encephalitis, can cause similar paralytic effects.
The bacteria responsible for botulism, Clostridium botulinum, can also cause flaccid paralysis and should be treated as a medical emergency. After bacteria enter the body, whether through food or an open wound, they colonize and release toxins that prevent muscle contraction. Foodborne botulism is most common in raw canned foods, and wound botulism is most prevalent among people using intravenous medications. The paralysis usually begins in the face before traveling down to the limbs and potentially the respiratory muscles, where it can prove fatal.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), lower motor neuron injury, and Reye’s syndrome also include flaccid paralysis in their symptoms. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body tries to attack a foreign substance, but attacks its own nerves instead. This disorder affects only peripheral nerves, all nerves outside the brain or spinal cord. A lesion on a lower motor neuron, which connects muscle cells to the brainstem and spinal cord, can be caused by injury or by any of the above diseases.
Reye’s syndrome causes flaccid paralysis in the later stages. The exact cause of this syndrome is unknown, although it has been linked to aspirin use in children with viral illnesses. Reye’s syndrome is more common in children and can be fatal.
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