Hundreds of children sickened by respiratory illness

Hundreds of children in about a dozen states have been sickened by a severe respiratory illness that public health officials suspect may be caused by an uncommon virus similar to the germ that causes the common cold. Nearly 500 children have been treated at one hospital alone – Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Missouri – and some required intensive care, according to authorities. Officials at the Spokane Regional Health District know of no cases of the virus in Spokane. But the district says it’s working with hospitals to watch out for spikes in the number of patients admitted with acute, unexplained respiratory illness. It’ll also encourage health care providers to consider the virus as a possible cause of unexplained respiratory illness. The suspected germ, enterovirus 68, is an uncommon strain of a very common family of viruses that typically hit from summertime through the fall. The virus can cause mild coldlike symptoms but this summer’s cases are unusually severe, said Mark Pallansch, director of the viral diseases division at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “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. The virus usually starts like the common cold, according to the Spokane health district. Symptoms include sneezing, a runny nose and a cough. Some patients will get a severe cough, have difficulty breathing or develop a rash. The virus is sometimes also accompanied by a fever or wheezing. The health district advised parents to take children to the doctor if they develop a fever or a rash, or if child has difficulty breathing. Children with asthma or a history of breathing problems are particularly susceptible for severe symptoms.