Illinois: EV68 respiratory illness in children

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Source: http://nemonews.net/2014/09/02/visitors-age-12-blessing-hospital-restricted-notice/


Visitors under age 12 to Blessing Hospital restricted until further notice

Children under the age of 12 are restricted from visiting Blessing Hospital patients until further notice due to the outbreak of a respiratory virus among youngsters in the region. The outbreak hit hard over the holiday weekend with more than 70 children presenting to the Blessing Emergency Center with breathing difficulties and seven being admitted for treatment of the as-yet-unidentified virus.
Blessing Hospital is working with the Illinois Department of Public Health to identify the virus affecting area children...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Illinois: EV68 respiratory illness in children

Source: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140908/NEWS/140909270


Hospitals see spike in children with respiratory viruses
By The Journal Star
Posted Sep. 8, 2014 @ 5:59 pm
Updated at 7:25 PM

PEORIA — Local hospital are seeing a spike in children with respiratory viruses. But hospital officials hesitated to say if it was the result of the enterovirus 68 outbreak.

Testing at OSF St. Francis Medical Center and UnityPoint Health-Methodist doesn’t differentiate between the enterovirus and the rhinovirus, a virus that commonly affects children during the winter months.

At St. Francis, 28 patients have tested positive since August. “Typically, about 11 patients test positive during the summer months,” said St. Francis spokeswoman Shelli Dankoff. “We’ve reached our winter numbers already.”...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Illinois: EV68 respiratory illness in children

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifes...erovirus-outbreak-2014090820140908-story.html


Emergency rooms in Chicago, Midwest see spike in children with respiratory virus
By Adam Sege, Chicago Tribune
September 8, 2014, 6:41 PM

Emergency rooms in Chicago and other Midwestern cities are seeing a jump in the number of children with respiratory infections, possibly the result of a rare virus that can cause difficulty breathing but is generally not fatal, authorities said Monday.

It remains unclear how many of the infections stem from what is called enterovirus D68, or EV-D68, authorities said. Authorities have confirmed 11 cases of EV-D68 in Chicago and dozens across the Midwest, but because testing, if done at all, takes time, the real number could be higher...

...In 10 of the 11 confirmed cases in Chicago, the victims wound up in a hospital?s intensive care unit. The potential for severe symptoms, along with the rapid spread of the relatively rare virus, has officials paying close attention...

...As they wait for more definitive tests to show how much of the outbreak is the result of EV-D68, officials in Chicago said there has been a clear increase in respiratory cases at local emergency rooms.

At Comer Children?s Hospital, nine patients were in the ICU on Monday with symptoms consistent with EV-D68, said John Easton, a spokesman for University of Chicago Medicine.

At Lurie Children?s Hospital in Streeterville, doctors have seen about a 40 percent jump since early July in respiratory illnesses over the same time last year, a spokeswoman said. ?The minute we discharge one patient [with respiratory symptoms], another one comes in,? said Julie Pesch, a Lurie spokeswoman...