Oh, great! Gracias, Presidente Obama!
Possibly. When the Physical Therapist checked my wife's limb measurements a few months after onset they said her limbs were typical for Polio at some point in her life. We think a mild undetected case that wasn't detected but did neurological damage. "IF" the poor kid has at some point came in contact with Polio that went undetected it might explain it.
BTW Transverse Myelitis itself IS NOT Contagious.
Our prayers are with Jessica.
My son was ~10 when he was struck with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM, also an auto-immune disease affecting the myelin sheath on the nerves. He was rapidly loosing his eyesight. The neurologist was going to treat him with MS meds after the steriods failed, but became familiar with a study that was being conducted that was using a chemo drug(Rituximab)that basically wiped out all acquired anti-bodies. The theory is that some auto-immune diseases are triggered by viruses, or possibly the order in which you contract them.
Short story: My son did the chemo treatments, and regained much of his eyesight, and is doing great now, with no treatments afterwards, other than re-doing certain vacinations. He is our miracle! We thank God every day!