Girl from southeastern Massachusetts first in state with enterovirus
BOSTON – State health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of Enterovirus-D68, a respiratory virus that has spread across the country in recent weeks.
Department of Public Health Commissioner Cheryl Bartlett told reporters Tuesday that the patient is an 8-year-old southeastern Massachusetts girl with a history of asthma. She was hospitalized earlier this month with wheezing and difficulty breathing before being treated and released.
Enterovirus-D-68, one of many strains of enteroviruses, can cause symptoms that range widely in severity. In most cases, the virus causes mild symptoms, including headache, fever, runny nose and muscle aches. Severe cases, however, may cause more serious problems such as difficulty breathing and tightness in the chest.
The virus is spread through coughs, sneezes or touching an infected surface. Bartlett recommends that parents be vigilant about thoroughly washing their hands, especially after changing diapers, to avoid spreading the virus to their children. She also suggests that people avoid touching their eyes, noses and mouths with unwashed hands.
“This is not a typical virus that we see every season,” said Dr. Janemarie Dolan, a pediatrician with the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center. “This particular strain is causing more illness in children. This is something new for us.”
State epidemiologist Dr. Al DeMaria said doctors collected the testing samples from the girl two weeks ago. He added that it is unlikely the virus is confined to any particular region of the state. There are suspected cases across Massachusetts, he said.
“I’m sure we’ll have other positives coming out of that testing over the next couple of days,” he predicted.
Children, particularly those with asthma or another respiratory ailment, are at an increased risk.
DeMaria recommends that parents of children with asthma make sure their children follow a physician-prescribed plan for asthma maintenance and control.
“In children with asthma, it can trigger an asthma attack,” he said. “This is already a bad time of year for asthma, with allergens and a change in temperature.”
The virus was first identified in California in 1962. The current outbreak began in mid-August in Missouri and Illinois and has since spread to more than two dozen other states.
Bartlett said news that the virus has been confirmed in Massachusetts “is not unexpected.”
Massachusetts hospitals, she said, are well-equipped to treat infected patients.
“DPH has been having internal meetings and regular meetings with hospitals, and we’re confident the hospitals are prepared to manage this,” she said, although patients can only endure the symptoms while waiting for it to subside.
“There’s no treatment for enterovirus,” said Dr. Leslie Linares, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Good Samaritan Medical Center. “It’s all about supportive care, supplying adequate oxygen.”
In Massachusetts, suspected potential samples of Enterovirus-D68 are being tested at Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain. Any samples that test positive as an enterovirus are then sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further testing to determine the subtype.
There are currently many cold viruses circulating, DeMaria said.
Enterovirus-D68 has been confirmed in 175 cases in 27 other states since mid-August, according to the CDC. Patients have tested positive for the virus in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
Testing, health officials said, is a slow, complex process that can be conducted only in specially equipped facilities, such as CDC and state labs.
“We expect the infection will circulate for another couple of weeks,” DeMaria said. “During that time, we expect to see a lot of people with ordinary respiratory illness and, hopefully, not a lot of kids with asthma attacks.”
Staff writer Joseph Markman contributed to this report.