Oct 07, 2014 04:45 PM EDT
Enterovirus 68: An Increasing And Daunting Worry After Death

Enterovirus 68 - This disease is affecting more people lately and especially, children. There was a very recent case with Eli Waller from New Jersey and now people are scattering all over the CDC to look out for the growing and each time, more often appearance of the Enterovirus 68.

What happened basically to Eli Waller from New Jersey is that he was a four year-old boy who went to bed on Sept. 24th and the next morning he was dead, according to The New York Times.

The big and increasing worry with Enterovirus 68 is that most people don't see it coming at all and it still hasn't been properly treated with constant facts and sure cures like other diseases.

Like Jeffrey Plunket, the township's Health Officer said about Eli, "He was asymptomatic and fine, and the next morning he had passed. The onset was very rapid and very sudden."

Apparently, more than a week after his death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that what had caused Eli's death was the Enterovirus 68.

After this, a lot of schools are taking considerations in terms of being especially careful with children. What does the CDC say about Enterovirus 68?

The Enterovirus 68 is one in more than a hundred of non-polio enteroviruses and it was first identified in 1962. The symptoms of it are similar to a cold. They include fever, runny nose, coughing, sneezing and muscle ache all over the body.

Actually, because of this fact, the mother of a child from Eli's class, Michelle Silva, said about her kid, "That freaked me out. It could have been him," referring to the fact that the day before Eli and her kid had been in class together and they both went back home with a cold. Michelle Silva's kid got better after a few days, but Eli had Enterovirus 68 and as we know, he didn't make it back to class.

Another detail is that the disease tends to happen more often to children with asthma or other respiratory conditions, as the virus itself presents symptoms related to respiration problems.

An effective way to keep the Enterovirus 68 out and what most schools are doing as prevention is keeping the places clean and children to wash their hands often. It's a way to keep the germs to spread less and the disease as well.  

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