Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)

Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)

Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a complex clinical syndrome with a broad array of potential aetiologies characterised by rapid onset of weakness, including weakness of respiratory and swallowing, progressing to maximum severity within several days to weeks.

AFP reporting and investigation in children less than 15 years of age is used as an indicator of quality syndromic surveillance that is used to ensure that if a case of AFP caused by acute poliomyelitis were to occur that it would be rapidly identified.

If AFP occurs in an individual 15 years of age or older who has recently arrived from a polio endemic country, similar investigations may be indicated to outrule polio virus.