Clearing up the confusion about Enterovirus D68 and paralysis

By Mark Gorman, MD, Director of the Pediatric Neuro-Immunology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve likely heard that a very small number of the patients currently being tested for Enterovirus D68 (EVD68) at Boston Children’s Hospital and other hospitals around the country, have developed some additional neurological symptoms including muscle paralysis or weakness of the arms and/or legs. These symptoms are particularly frightening to parents and caregivers because they are so similar to symptoms associated with polio. Please be assured, this is not polio, and may be completely unrelated to EVD68. At this point, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have not made a connection between the muscle paralysis and weakness and EVD68. Boston Children’s confirmed yesterday that we have treated four patients with those neurological symptoms. The youngest is four years old; the oldest is 15. All four patients had a history of respiratory illness. We did not find any enteroviruses in their spinal fluid and we are waiting on additional tests results to come back from the lab. In the meantime, two of the four children have already recovered enough to be discharged and one is on a regular neurology inpatient floor. Only one requires intermediate care unit-level care. Here are a few important facts that you should be aware of: While you may have heard that EVD68 is related to the virus that causes polio (which was eradicated using...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: All posts enterovirus D68 Source Type: news