The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) has received reports from two hospitals in different parts of the state of clusters of severe respiratory illness among young children that could be due to enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).
We are working with the hospitals to facilitate testing for EV-D68 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When test results are available from the CDC, DPH will share a summary of that information with health care professionals and the public.
The CDC reports that from mid-August to September 12, 2014, a total of 97 people in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Missouri have been confirmed to have respiratory illness caused by EV-D68. CDC is working with state health departments to track the spread of EV-D68.
On September 12, 2014, the New York State Department of Health has announced that EV-D68 has now been confirmed in more than a dozen children in New York State.
The Connecticut DPH has asked clinicians to consider laboratory testing of respiratory specimens for enteroviruses when the cause of infection in severely ill patients is unclear, and to report clusters of severe respiratory illnesses to their local public health agency and to DPH.
The CDC released a Health Alert Advisory on September 12, “Severe Respiratory Illness Associated with Enterovirus D68 – Multiple States, 2014”.
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