Hundreds of children in more than 10 states have been sickened by a severe respiratory illness that public health officials say may be caused by an uncommon virus similar to the germ that causes the common cold, according to Reuters.
The suspected germ, enterovirus 68, is an uncommon strain of a very common family of viruses that typically hit from summertime through autumn, Reuters reported. The virus typically causes illness lasting about a week and most children recover with no lasting problems.
Nearly 500 children have been treated at Children's Mercy in Kansas City, Missouri, and some required intensive care, according to Reuters.
The virus can cause mild cold-like symptoms including runny noses, coughing and wheezing but Mark Pallansch, director of the viral diseases division at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this summer's cases are unusually severe and include serious breathing problems, Reuters reported.
"It's not highly unusual but we're trying to understand what happened this year in terms of these noticeable and much larger clusters of severe respiratory disease," Pallansch said Monday, according to Reuters.
Cases have been confirmed in Missouri and Illinois, and the CDC said it is testing to see if the virus caused respiratory illnesses reported in children in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah, Reuters reported.
The states' tally changes as specimens are confirmed or test negative, but a spokeswoman for Iowa's public health department said CDC tests confirmed the virus in samples from patients in central Iowa and a Colorado hospital said it has confirmed cases, according to Reuters.
The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said at a Monday news briefing that there are other viruses making kids sick, Reuters reported. "Most of the runny noses out there are not going to be turning into this," she added.
Children with asthma and other health problems are especially at risk for the enterovirus, but reported cases include children without asthma who have developed asthma-like breathing problems, Pallansch said. He said no deaths have been reported in the outbreak, according to Reuters.
