text: SEATTLE - A mysterious illness that hospitalized several local children has now turned deadly. 
   
   
   
   A 6-year-old boy who has been treated for the disease for more than two weeks passed away Sunday night. 
   
   The boy, 6-year-old Daniel Ramirez of Bellingham, was one of eight children being treated at Seattle Children's Hospital for a disease that has baffled medical staff. 
   
   KOMO News spoke to Daniel's parents on Friday, and they said he was sent to the hospital with cold symptoms and dizziness. He was paralyzed within a few hours and never recovered. 
   
   Doctors believe Daniel and the other children may have contracted a rare virus known as acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM - but that hasn't yet been confirmed. 
   
   There weren't any cases in Washington state last year. There were just two cases in 2014 - including 15-year-old Hayden Werdal. He now needs a wheelchair - but his family is grateful he is improving. 
   
   "We thought that Hayden's case was the most severe it could get - paralyzed from the neck down," said Hayden's mom, Heather. "That is scary for us because we didn't think it could (cause death)." 
   
   Hayden is one of two children in Washington diagnosed with AFM in 2014. It all started with a cold. Ten days later, symptoms went from serious to severe. 
   
   “Within 10 days he was completely paralyzed, on a ventilator, and on a trake. He kept getting sicker. It was a scary time,” said mother Heather Werdal. 
   
   Hayen may not ever walk again, but his family hopes he’ll be heading off to college in three years. He recently returned to school for the first time in two years. He’s taking three classes including French, Math, and English. His family realizes the road to recovery will be a long one, but they are hopeful. 
   
   “There is no cure for this. We are desperately looking for more research into this,” said Werdal. 
   
   The Centers for Disease Control says the agency is investigating a spike in AFM cases. Fifty people have gotten sick in 24 states this year - and it's still unclear how someone gets the virus or exactly what causes it. 
   
   Doctors have determined AFM affects the nervous system, specifically the spinal cord. Symptoms typically include sudden weakness in one or more arms or legs, along with loss of muscle tone and decreased or absent reflexes. There is no specific treatment for AFM. 
   
   The children admitted to Children's are from 3 to 14 years old. Three are from King County, one is from Pierce County, two are from Franklin County and two are from Whatcom County. The cases occurred over the past six weeks. 
   
   Staff at Seattle Children's Hospital say they can't comment on the details of Daniel's case because of privacy laws, but they say they expect to hear back from the CDC this week about what could be going on. 
   
   Until then, Daniel's family can only mourn the death of a young boy who was healthy and thriving up until a few weeks ago. ||||| Photo of Breea Shelton from her great uncle Max Marshall - 2.jpg 
   
   Doctors say a 10-year-old girl from Salem has symptoms of acute flaccid myelitis, an illness that causes paralysis and weakness. 
   
   Breea Shelton of Salem is at Dorenbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, her grandmother told KATU Monday night. 
   
   Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were eight children in Washington who had AFM. Oregon health officials confirmed there had been three cases in Oregon this year. All of those people had been released from the hospital. 
   
   The disease that affects the nervous system is rare. It causes sudden weakness in a person’s arms and legs, along with loss of muscle tone and reflexes. 
   
   The exact cause is unknown but many viruses and germs are linked to AFM. Doctors say it is not contagious. 
   
   Oregon Public Health Division spokesman Jonathan Modie says to help prevent the illness people should practice good hygiene. 
   
   “Encourage your kids to wash their hands, cover your cough,” he said. 
   
   He says there’s no treatment for AFM. 
   
   “If a child or adult is experiencing any kind of weakness at all, they should see their health care provider immediately,” Modie told KATU last week. 
   
   CORRECTION: KATU News initially reported Breea was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, but her doctor says she only exhibited symptoms of the rare illness. ||||| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed acute flaccid myelitis in eight of the nine kids admitted to Seattle Children’s hospital with polio-like symptoms. 
   
   AFM is a rare condition that affects the nervous system, specifically the spinal cord. All eight children ranging in age from 3 to 14 had a loss of strength or movement in one or more arms or legs with a range of types and severity of symptoms. 
   
   Related: Mother of boy who had mysterious symptoms speaks out 
   
   Doctors say the syndrome is not contagious. 
   
   The boy who was exhibiting symptoms before he died was unable to cry, his mother says. 
   
   Marijo Deguzman told KIRO 7 her son, Daniel, was taken off life support on Monday. 
   
   “He woke up, and looked at me. And he started crying. But his tear ducts, he couldn’t cry,” Deguzman told CBS. “His brain wasn’t letting him cry.” 
   
   The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| A mystery illness that causes paralysis has popped up again in Oregon. 
   
   State officials have tracked three cases of the disease, acute flaccid myelitis, since August. Two children younger than 10 and an adult over 50 were infected and all were hospitalized. 
   
   "This is not something that happens very often," said Dr. Richard Leman of the Oregon Public Health Division. "But we want to detect it if it's there." 
   
   Two of the patients live in eastern Oregon, including the adult. The other child is in the Willamette Valley. 
   
   In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection tracked a wave of cases, including three children in Oregon. The number of patients subsided last year - there were none in Oregon - but the mysterious illness surged again this year, with nearly 90 cases in 33 states. 
   
   Washington state has had nine cases so far this year, including a 6-year-old boy who is suspected of having died from the illness. He's the only known fatality nationwide. 
   
   Acute flaccid myelitis remains a mystery. Scientists don't know what happens in the body to cause the paralysis though it's been linked to enteroviruses along with West Nile and related viruses. 
   
   The adult in Oregon got it from West Nile, Leman said. 
   
   Symptoms involve a weakness or paralysis of at least one limb. There is no treatment, with hospitals providing comfort care only. Most people get better over time though they usually don't fully recover, Leman said. 
   
   Bailey Sheehan, the first child affected in 2014, suffered paralysis in her right leg and arm and then lost sight in her left eye. She's undergone extensive physical therapy and other treatment. 
   
   She's vastly improved, said her mother, Mikell Sheehan, but isn't 100 percent. 
   
   "She still has severe nerve damage in her right leg and arm and still cannot feel them," Sheehan wrote in an email. "But she can use them." 
   
   Bailey, now 9, was infected by enterovirus D68, a virulent form associated with 14 deaths in 2014. 
   
   -- Lynne Terry 
   
   lterry@oregonian.com 
   
   @LynnePDX
target: – It was a quiet 2015 after dozens of people, mostly children, fell gravely ill in 2014 from a mysterious condition called acute flaccid myelitis, which first presents as a cold but quickly escalates to polio-like symptoms, including paralysis. It is quiet no longer as the Centers for Disease Control confirms what appear to be about 90 cases across 33 states so far this year, and three of them are in Oregon, home to the first case in 2014, reports the Oregonian. Washington, which saw only a couple cases in 2014, appears to be suffering from something of an outbreak, with nine cases so far this year including the first suspected fatality; a 6-year-old boy is believed to have died from the illness, reports MyNorthwest.com. The illness is not contagious, according to doctors, but it's not clear how people contract it. Little is known about AFM, though it's been linked to enteroviruses as well as West Nile and related viruses, and there is no treatment other than comfort care. It affects the nervous system, particularly the spinal cord, and telltale symptoms include weakness and paralysis. "If a child or adult is experiencing any kind of weakness at all, they should see their health care provider immediately," Oregon's public health division spokesperson tells KATU. Aside from Daniel Ramirez, the 6-year-old taken off life support last week, most kids appear to make partial to even full recoveries. KOMO News reports that a teenager afflicted in Washington in 2014 still needs a wheelchair but continues to improve and hopes to go to college soon. (Ramirez went from healthy to dead in two weeks.)