This is consistent with a recent warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports an increase in hospitalizations of pediatric patients related to enterovirus and rhinovirus. “I have never seen anything like this before. It was very scary,” said Alexa Brett of Circle Pines, whose son Easton recently became ill. Brett said five-month-old Easton had a runny nose and cough, which she initially thought were allergies or a cold. “But then he nodded and turned very pale. He looked lifeless basically. He wasn’t breathing,” Brett said. (FILE) He said he was taken by ambulance to HCMC in Minneapolis, where he tested positive for enterovirus and rhinovirus and was hospitalized for 24 hours. “We’ve seen many, many cases of respiratory enterovirus here,” said Dr. Stacene Maroushek, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Hennepin Healthcare. He said children who arrive at the hospital with symptoms are swabbed for a number of viruses, including COVID-19, influenza and enterovirus/rhinovirus. Maroushek said that in the past six weeks at Hennepin Healthcare, hundreds of children have tested positive for enterovirus. According to the CDC, symptoms can include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, skin rash, mouth blisters, and body and muscle aches. With an increasing number of hospitalizations among children, the CDC also reports an increase in enterovirus D-68, which can lead to rare but serious side effects such as paralysis. “The small subset of kids who get it, there’s been some permanent damage, but a lot of kids recover,” Maroushek said. The median age for enterovirus D-68 is three years, according to the CDC, but they note that children and teenagers of all ages can get it. “It’s a warning for pediatricians to be on the lookout,” said Dr. Gigi Chawla, chief of general pediatrics at Children’s Minnesota. He said red flags include a bad cold that doesn’t seem to be getting better, a fever that persists for more than three days, and extremely labored breathing. “If you see things that are even more serious, like your child seems weak or has trouble moving, for goodness sake, those are things you should definitely seek medical attention for,” Chawla said. Brett said her son made a full recovery from the enterovirus in about a week. “I’m grateful and I hope he’s healthy. I wouldn’t wish that on any family,” Brett said. While enterovirus as a whole is on the rise, the Minnesota Department of Health told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS there are no confirmed cases of enterovirus D-68 in Minnesota so far this season. A spokesperson gave this statement: “It’s an area we’re actively monitoring, especially given the trends we’re seeing nationally.”
