The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that four children infected with Enterovirus 68 died. However, it is still unclear how the virus has caused their death. The state and federal health officials are still investigating on the disease and its role on the deaths of the patients.
Samples from patients who recently died were found to have strains of the virus but it has unclear clues whether if the virus really caused their deaths. The virus is very common in the country. In fact, the CDC reports about 10 million reported cases each year in the United States alone.
The CDC says that these deaths are sending an alarm to the health ministry because of the sudden rise in cases. In fact, last month nine children were paralyzed due to the infection. Furthermore, more and more children were sent to hospitals because of this acute respiratory illness.
Enterovirus 68 is an acute respiratory illness commonly affecting children but can be seen in adults too. Up to date, there are reported 500 people who were infected in all 42 states. Infected patients inclide Emily Otrando, a 10-year old Cumberland, Rhode Island. She died last September 22 and the health department announced that she tested positive for the said illness.
The girl died from sepsis pertaining to Staphylococcul aureus, the health director said. However, they are not neglecting the test she has which shown positive enterovirus 68 infection too.
The virus is infecting mostly children but these past few months, and they manifested rare symptoms like paralysis that prompted the CDC and WHO to hold more investigations on whether the virus has undergone mutations.
