Outbreaks of enterovirus D68 continue across the USA

R Nelson - The Lancet Respiratory medicine, 2014 - thelancet.com
R Nelson
The Lancet Respiratory medicine, 2014thelancet.com
“We have had a 10–15% increase in admissions as compared to last year”, says Samuel
Dominguez, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado in
Denver (CO).“Since Sept 5, we have seen over 800 kids with respiratory symptoms in our
emergency rooms and urgent care centres, and about 10% of them have been admitted to
the hospital.” In six states, the underlying pathogen has been identified as enterovirus (EV)-
D68, but the situation is changing, says Susan Gerber from the Division for Viral Diseases at …
“We have had a 10–15% increase in admissions as compared to last year”, says Samuel Dominguez, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver (CO).“Since Sept 5, we have seen over 800 kids with respiratory symptoms in our emergency rooms and urgent care centres, and about 10% of them have been admitted to the hospital.” In six states, the underlying pathogen has been identified as enterovirus (EV)-D68, but the situation is changing, says Susan Gerber from the Division for Viral Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).“The situation is rapidly evolving, we are getting requests from a number of other states, and we are investigating sites reporting clusters of patients with these symptoms.” EV-D68 was first identified in California in 1962, but during the four decades since it first surfaced EV-D68 has been an uncommon cause of respiratory illnesses. Enterovirus infections are also not reportable diseases in the USA, and the CDC does not have a surveillance system that specifically collects information about EV-D68 infections. Thus, there are no data currently available about the overall burden of morbidity or mortality from EV-D68. Any data for EV-D68 infections or outbreaks are provided voluntarily to the CDC’s National Enterovirus Surveillance
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