More than 1,000 US children happen to be hospitalized due to a mysterious respiratory illness believed to be caused by a pathogen associated with the one which causes the common cold, and 10 states have contacted the US Cdc and Prevention (CDC) for help in the problem, various media outlets have reported.
According to Gillian Mohney and Dean Schabner of ABC News, the condition hasn’t yet been identified, but health officials believe the reason is human enterovirus 68 (EV-D68), which the CDC said relates to rhinovirus C the most common viral pathogen and the predominant reason for colds in men and women.
As of this past weekend, the states which had contacted the government public health institute were North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas, said Kimberly Ruble from the Guardian Liberty Voice. In Missouri, approximately 450 children had to be hospitalized using the illness, with 60 requiring intensive care, and a large number of potential cases are also reported in Ohio, Colorado and Illinois.
“Viruses don’t tend to respect borders,” explained ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser. “It is just 10 states now, but it’s going to be across the nation. So if your state doesn’t have it now, watch out for it, it’s coming. This is a very common here we are at outbreaks. Kids come back to school, that they like to talk about things, they bring them home to their little brothers and sisters, and enteroviruses tend to exist in summer time.”
Besser said that doctors “have no idea” why this particular strain of enterovirus, that is said to be extremely rare, surfaced this year. He added that officials at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver told him over 900 pediatric patients with symptoms usual for the respiratory virus were treated by emergency room doctors between August 18 and September 4, and that 86 of those children had to be admitted to the hospital.
What are the the signs of this disease? Based on CNN’s Jethro Mullen, the signs and symptoms of most enteroviruses are “like a very intense cold” C a sentiment echoed by CDC virologist Mark Pallansch, who said that these types of microbes are responsible for most bad summer colds. There are over 100 various kinds of enteroviruses, he explained. They cause between 10 and 15 million infections in the US each year, peaking during the month of September.
The current problem is associated with the rareness of this particular type of enterovirus, along with the large number of hospitalizations associated with respiratory ailments this year, Mullen said. He was quoted saying that EV-D68 continues to be sending over 30 children per day to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and officials at that hospital report that nearly 15 % of those youngsters have been put into intensive care.
“It’s worse when it comes to scope of critically ill children who require intensive care. I would call it unprecedented,” said Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, a director for infectious diseases in the Kansas City hospital, which has treated approximately 475 children in recent days. “I’ve practiced for 3 decades in pediatrics, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
Experts cannot say for sure why EV-D68 has surfaced this year, but William Schaffner, head from the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University, said there isn’t an excessive amount of reason to be concerned. Even though the enterovirus “causes prominent respiratory symptoms,” he said the good news is this disease is rarely fatal.
“Most enteroviruses cause whether little bit of a chilly or a diarrheal illness C a few cause meningitis. That one may be the, if you will, odd cousin. It causes prominent respiratory symptoms. Why it does that, we’re not really sure,” he told CNN. “All of those folks are getting better. A number of them convey more severe illness, like these children who have developed asthma and are hospitalized. However they really should improve.”
