[The differential diagnosis of poliomyelitis and other acute flaccid paralyses].

Between June 1988 to January 1991 a total of 246 children with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) were seen at Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez which was the center of study for AFP for the Poliomyelitis Eradication Program of Mexico. Of the 246 children, 42 has poliomyelitis (17%); 156 has Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (63.4%); 16 had traumatic neuritis of the sciatic nerve secondary to IM injections (TNC) (6.5%); five had transverse myelitis (2%); the rest (27) had other diseases misdiagnosed as polio (10.9%). The basic clinical characteristics for the diagnosis of poliomyelitis are: myalgias and fever at the onset AFP, paralysis is asymmetrical, of distal predominance and causes severe muscular atrophy and skeletal deformities; the GBS presents as an ascending, symmetrical, areflexic paralysis of distal predominance. It does not causes atrophy or deformities. TNC presents several days after IM injections with pain and hypothermia in the affected limbs; TM is a flaccid, symmetrical paraparesis with neurogenic bladder and a sensory level. CSF and neurophysiological studies (EMG and NCV) are very useful for diagnosis. Other entities misdiagnosed as poliomyelitis were: osteoarticular trauma, myopathies and dystrophies, viral myositis, acute cerebellitis, retroperitoneal tumors and upper motor neuron syndromes. Viral studies in stool specimens are essential for the diagnosis of poliomyelitis.