In The United States, An Outbreak Of SARS Among Children Was Caused By [a Rare And Little-studied Enterovirus]

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

In the United States, an outbreak of SARS among children was caused by [a rare and little-studied enterovirus]

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed previously reported information in the media about an outbreak of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) among children in several states. According to the CDC, the causative agent of the disease is a rare and poorly understood enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).

Map of the spread of enterovirus infection by state. CNN frame /

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed previously reported information in the media about an outbreak of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) among children in several states. According to the CDC, the causative agent of the disease is a rare and little-studied enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).

Clusters of infections were initially reported in the states of Missouri and Illinois. On August 19 and 23, children's hospitals in Kansas City and Chicago informed the CDC of a sharp rise, compared to the same period last year, in the number of patients with SARS, and some of them had to be admitted to the intensive care unit. Most of the hospitalized children had a history of asthma or a tendency to bronchial obstruction. Laboratory studies have shown EV-D68 to be the causative agent in both states. The virus was isolated in 19 of 22 samples from Missouri and 11 of 14 samples from Illinois. At the same time, the number of cases in both states continues to grow at a higher rate than would be expected at this time of year, the CDC said in a press release.

Laboratory studies are currently being conducted to identify the cause of the epidemic rise in the incidence of SARS among children in 8 more states - Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

Ever since EV-D68 was first identified in California in 1962 and since then its activity has been extremely rare in the United States. So, from 2009 to 2013, the National Enterovirus Surveillance System recorded only 79 cases of SARS caused by this pathogen. At the same time, due to the lack of study of EV-D68, it remains unknown whether, in addition to diseases of the upper respiratory tract, it can cause damage to other body systems. It is known that enteroviruses include 67 serotypes pathogenic for humans and are the causative agents of a number of life-threatening diseases, such as poliomyelitis, meningitis, and encephalitis.