Marion General Hospital tests four for enterovirus

The specimens have been confirmed as the enterovirus, but it’s not known yet whether the virus is the D68 strain, which is a severe respiratory illness that has sickened hundreds of children nationwide.

“The symptoms have been respiratory, so there is a high degree of suspicion,” Kitashoji said.

MGH saw a higher number of patients with those symptoms at the end of August and beginning of September. The numbers have started to decrease, and she hopes that continues to be the trend.

“We’re still kind of concerned that it could be out there,” she said.

Because the treatment is supportive care, doctors can treat patients without knowing the results of the test. Testing is done for the public’s knowledge, she said.

Treatment depends on the symptoms, so if the child is having an asthma flare-up, then the doctor would treat for that. If they’re not drinking fluids, the patient will receive fluids. So far no deaths have been reported in the county as a result of the virus.

She said the patients who have been treated were teenagers and younger.

Patricia Gibson, director of communications for Marion Community Schools, said in an emailed statement that the district hasn’t seen any evidence of an increase in absences linked to the virus.

“Our school nurses have been keeping up to date on this topic and are on the lookout for concerning symptoms,” she said.

Kitashoji said warning signs parents need to be on the lookout for include wheezing, especially if a child is already asthmatic and they are having more difficulty.

“This is one of those times they need to talk to their doctor right away, if their asthma is acting up,” Kitashoji said.

In the cases the hospital has seen, some of the children had asthma that worsened with the virus, while others hadn’t ever had asthma in their life and were experiencing breathing problems, she said.

“Some of these children flare up rather quickly,” she said.

The virus, similar to the one that causes the common cold, can be severe and require hospitalization in people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma.

The state health department says Indiana hospitals statewide are reporting an increase in the number of patients with respiratory illnesses, especially among children.

Enteroviruses are common, with 10 million to 15 million cases in the U.S. annually. The current outbreak has also been reported in other states, including Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky.

Though enterovirus 68 is an uncommon strain of a very common family of viruses that typically hits from summertime through autumn, Mark Pallansch, director of the viral diseases division at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this year’s cases are unusually severe and include serious breathing problems.

“It’s not highly unusual, but we’re trying to understand what happened this year in terms of these noticeable and much larger clusters of severe respiratory disease,” Pallansch said.

The virus typically causes illness lasting about a week, and most children recover with no lasting problems. It can spread through sneezing, and experts say good hand-washing practices are important to curb transmission.

Hospitals across the state are restricting visits by children to prevent the spread of the illness.

Kitashoji said MGH has posted signs in its pediatric unit and family birthing center informing visitors that if they have a cold, fever or runny nose that they cannot visit in those units.

“That’s all we’ve done so far,” she said. “Obviously if you think you’re infected, it’s not a good time to be a visitor. To me, those rules always apply. Visit by phone if you’re ill.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.