CDC investigating possible link between paralysis and enterovirus

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention are now trying to connect the enterovirus with paralysis.

This comes after children in Denver who tested positive for the virus started having trouble moving their arms and legs. The CDC has not yet linked the paralysis to Enterovirus D68. This is still just an advisory, and the agency is still investigating.

Susan Bankhead, the director of pediatrics at EIRMC, said the CDC is asking for medical professionals to look for patients who have these symptoms.

“So if you see a child that’s coming in with this type of weakness, you see a child that has some of this stuff we’re looking at and they give us a list of what we’re looking for, and (we) letthem know, let the health department know,” Bankhead said,

Bankhead said the enterovirus is very similar to other respiratory infections. It infects the lungs and makes it difficult to breathe. She says enterovirus has been around for years.

“We just saw an uptake in it, but it’s something you can see pretty well every year and see it around the cold seasons, so it’s nothing new, and it truly has been here for a while,” Bankhead said. “This time, it’s just shown itself a little bit differently than other times.”

Some of the symptoms include faster breathing, grunting, wheezing and sometimes a cough. Bankhead says if your child has any of these symptoms, take him or her to a doctor.

“Anytime your child has some respiratory problems if they are having a hard time breathing, or they are breathing very fast, they just seem to be struggling,” Bankhead said, “that’s something you would definitely want to bring your child in, regardless whether it’s enterovirous or anything else.

Doctors at EIRMC are monitoring the enterovirus. The last child who tested positive for the virus left the hospital last week. There have been no new cases since then.