The recent outbreak of the respiratory disease Enterovirus D-68 has claimed a 21-month-old girl's life in Michigan, marking the second time a child has succumbed to the virus that has infected more than 600 people across the United States, health officials said on Saturday. Earlier last month, 4-year-old Eli Waller of New Jersey went to bed in seemingly good health and died in his sleep after contracting the illness.
Madeline Reid, who had been battling the rare virus for a month, passed away on Friday afternoon while receiving treatment at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, according to Elise Bennett, a spokeswoman for the facility. The young girl had been admitted to the hospital on Sept. 21 after testing positive for EV-D68, Bennett told the Los Angeles Times.
"It is never easy to lose a child, and our entire healthcare team at the Children's Hospital of Michigan is deeply saddened by this family's loss and mourns with them during this very difficult time," Rudolph Valentini, chief medical officer at the children's hospital, said.
First discovered in the 1960s, enteroviruses are common and usually do not require hospital care. But the past month has witnessed an unusually high number of cases in 46 states and the District of Columbia where the cold-like symptoms have developed into acute respiratory distress, eventually hospitalizing more than 600 patients, and in some cases, placing them in intensive care, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since Oct. 7, 31 people, most of them children with a history of asthma, have tested positive for the virus in Michigan, Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, told LA Times.
Aside from Reid and Waller, at least four others infected with EV-D68 have died this year, although the CDC said it is unclear what role the virus played in their deaths, Reuters reported.
Known to be common at this time of the year, EV-D68 infects 10 million to 15 million people in the U.S. each year.
"Enterovirus infections are often mild, so they usually go undetected," according to LA Times. "The virus has been associated, rarely, with severe breathing troubles and, even more rarely, with neurological symptoms, including polio-like muscle weakness. Children with asthma have been particularly susceptible."
Since the illness spreads through close contact with infected people, the CDC recommends basic sanitary practices to avoid spreading the virus and reducing the risk of infection, including frequent hand washing, avoiding those who are sick, and covering the nose and mouth during sneezes or coughs.
