Afraid of EV-D68? Another Deadly Virus Is Actually Killing Kids in U.S.
By Maggie Fox
NBCNews.com
September 29th 2014
It’s all over the headlines: Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68) is making kids sick in what appear to be unprecedented numbers. It might be causing paralysis — or maybe not. It may have infected some adults.
But EV-D68 is nothing compared to the viral killer that really concerns Dr. Paul Checchia of Texas Children’s Hospital, who treats sick kids all day long.
“Hysterical — that’s the way I describe it,” Checchia said about the reaction to EV-D68.
Every year, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV sends 75,000 to 125,000 children to the hospital and kills as many as 200 every year, numbers that are a little fuzzy because hospitals are not required to report deaths from RSV. Last year, influenza killed at least 105 kids. No deaths from EV-D68, which has been linked to several hundred illnesses nationwide, have been reported.
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