Enterovirus D68 cases are rising across the nation, according to the nonprofit Stanford-based initiative WastewaterSCAN. It is a respiratory virus that spreads when someone infected coughs or sneezes. Most people only develop cold-like symptoms, but in some rare cases, the virus can lead to a polio-like condition called acute flaccid myelitis.
Megan Culler Freeman, an infectious disease physician at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said the virus last circulated widely in the fall of 2022, and starting around late July of this summer, a rising number of detections were found in nose swabs and wastewater. “We’ve seen a steady increase in the amount of this virus circulating in the country,” Culler Freeman said. Culler Freeman said most people infected either have cold-like symptoms or no symptoms at all.
But the virus has been linked to acute flaccid myelitis. “This is a very alarming condition because it can cause previously healthy children to have paralysis,” Culler Freeman said. While concerning, Buddy Creech, director of the vaccine research program at Vanderbilt University, said acute flaccid myelitis cases are extremely rare.
“Given the vast number of Enterovirus infections that we see, this really is the tip of the iceberg,” Creech said. So while parents don’t need to be overly worried, he said if you start to notice your child develop any arm or leg weakness, you should reach out for help. “That’s a reason to follow up with a child�.