What is Enterovirus EV-D68, the disease causing alarm in the Midwest?
What are enteroviruses?
Enteroviruses, which bring on symptoms like a very intense cold, aren't unusual. They're actually very common.
When you have a bad summer cold, often what you have is an enterovirus, said Mark Pallansch, a virologist and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Viral Diseases.
There are more than 100 types of enteroviruses causing about 10 to 15 million infections in the United States each year, according to the CDC. They are carried in the intestinal tract and often spread to other parts of the body.
The season often hits its peak in September, as summer ends and fall begins.
more at link .............. http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/health/enterovirus-ev-d68-explainer/
Virus hitting Midwest could be 'tip of iceberg,' CDC official says
The virus has sent more than 30 children a day to a Kansas City, Missouri, hospital, where about 15% of the youngsters were placed in intensive care, officials said.
In Kansas City, about 475 children were recently treated at Children's Mercy Hospital, and at least 60 of them received intensive hospitalization, spokesman Jake Jacobson said.
"It's worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care. I would call it unprecedented. I've practiced for 30 years in pediatrics, and I've never seen anything quite like this," said Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, the hospital's division director for infectious diseases.
"We've had to mobilize other providers, doctors, nurses. It's big," she said.
The Kansas City hospital treats 90% of that area's ill children. Staff members noticed an initial spike on August 15, Jackson said.
"It could have taken off right after school started. Our students start back around August 17, and I think it blew up at that point," Jackson said. "Our peak appears to be between the 21st and the 30th of August. We've seen some leveling of cases at this point."
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