EV-D68: The Mystery Illness That’s Not Actually A Mystery

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is one of over 100 non-polio enteroviruses, according to the CDC. For most people infected, it causes flu-like symptoms, mild to severe. Itspreads just like the common cold virus, through coughing, sneezing, handshakes, or touching a surface touched by someone with the infection.

Over this past summer and fall, the United States, “has experienced a nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68,” according to the CDC. For most infected persons, it’s just another cold. But “more severe infections can lead to hypoxia, meningitis, eye problems, heart involvement, and rarely paralysis.”

This sudden surge in EV-D68 cases is perplexing to the investigative sleuths in the media. USA Today calls it “unexplained” while noting 1,116 cases in 47 states, mostly in children, with 12 deaths from the virus. Up north, the CBC calls the recent surge in infections, including at least six cases in Canada a “mystery.” My hometown newspaper theDenver Post is also stumped about this “mystery” afflicting eleven children in Colorado, one of the first states reporting cases. Meanwhile ten children have been hospitalized in Denver for unexplained paralysis.

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