Since the unfortunate death this weekend of a child in New Jersey, purportedly from Enterovirus-68, weve had a resurgence of questions about this disease. While any pediatric death is a definite tragedy, the risks of having a serious case of EV-D68 have been blown way out of proportion by the media. EV-D68 is not a new virus, its a well-known virus discovered 50 years ago. Usually, it causes mild flu-like symptoms, meaning most cases are probably ignored and go undiagnosed. The novel thing about EV-D68 this year is that there have been many more serious cases than usual. However, the numbers are still very low: as of this writing, there have been a total of 538 confirmed cases and only one death from EV-D68 in the US this year. Compare that to the 20,000 pediatric hospitalizations and over 100 deaths from Influenza (the flu) in this country - not just this year, but EVERY year - and you get an idea of where your concerns should lie. Take the usual precautions against illness - wash your hands, cover your mouth when you sneeze, make sure your asthma meds arent expired - but there are no extra measures you need to take against EV-D68. If you need more information, please visit the CDCs pages on Enteroviruses.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 14:08:23 +0000