Transverse myelitis is a neurologic syndrome caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Transverse myelitis is uncommon but not that rare of a virus. Transverse myelitis incidences per year vary from 1 to 5 per million populations. Anybody can get Transverse myelitis, including young children and the elderly. However, several studies reveal that there is one peak in the age range from 10-19 years old, and another in the 30-39 years old range (Ropper and Poskanzer, 1978; Christensen et al., 1990; Paine and Byers, 1953). Myelitis is a nonspecific term for inflammation of the spinal cord, and transverse refers to involvement across one level of the spinal cord. It occurs in both adults and children. Transverse myelitis is characterized by symptoms and signs of neurologic dysfunction in motor and sensory tracts on both sides of the spinal cord. Often this is associated with a clearly defined area of altered sensation on both sides of the body, weakness or loss of use in both of the legs and sometimes the arms, kidney and bladder failure or even bowel dysfunction. "Transverse Myelitis is one of the 6000 most rarest disorders" (Journal of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke). It is also one of the few disorders that is not genetically caused. Transverse Myelitis is a relatively new disorder, with the first cases having been reported in the early fifties. But it has been on the rise since the late 1960s, affecting people of every race, gender and age, but of many health backgrounds. This disorder is strange in itself because there are many ways by which someone may acquire it. People, who suffer from AIDS, syphilis or cancer can also manifest transverse myelitis, or those who have had the flu shot or other immunizations, like the shot for chicken pox. Some Transverse myelitis patients have no pervious disease or cause at all. Most Transverse myelitis patients were perfectly health before they got the virus.
