Healthcare officials urge the use of common health safety tips with the outbreak of Enterovirus D68
“What parents should remember is that any virus can cause somebody to be sick,” said Heartland Dr. Cynthia Brownfield. “It’s important to really teach kids to wash their hands frequently, not touch their face or their eyes or their nose, and cough and or sneeze into their sleeve because prevention is the key.”
According to the latest data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 153 people from 18 states were confirmed to have respiratory illness caused by EV-D68. Those states include: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Children’s Mercy in Kansas City is reporting that cases of Enterovirus 68 are dropping. The hospital reported Monday that it is back to a normal number of patients in the hospital.
“This is a relatively rare virus, it does have clusters around the world here and there but this is the first time it’s been here in quite some time,” said Dr. Brownfield. “I’ve seen several cases where I could completely suspect that the child was suffering from D68 however, it’s not recommended to test any child that walks into the clinic.”
Dr. Brownfield said only patients who are severely ill are tested, which is why all of the statistics on the illness come from Children’s Mercy.
“It’s simply a virus, just like the common cold and most kids or most adults who are healthy will do just fine” said Dr. Brownfield. “However, it can present with pretty significant respiratory symptoms.”
The CDC expects to see an increase in confirmed cases of D68 because of delayed lab results. According to the CDCs website, it can take awhile to test specimens and obtain results due to a complex and slow testing process. As the backlog is processed the number of states with confirmed cases will likely increase.