Don't Forget To Wash Your Hands!

A respiratory virus is a leading problem throughout the Midwest. It is affecting hundreds, sending 30 children to a hospital per day. Fifteen percent of the 450(+) children were even sent to ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Doctors have theories that this virus started spreading after school started, but are completely astonished by it because they claim they have never seen anything like it before.  At least 19 of the children in Kansas City showed to be positive to Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no specific treatment for this infection and vaccines are currently unavailable. The virus can push to the point of death, but so far there haven’t been any reports of death in Missouri. One hospital said that symptoms include fever, body/muscle aches, sneezing, coughing, and rash. One case stated that a 13 year old boy came down with a cold, and then woke up a few days later with an asthma attack that could not be subsided by his medicine.

This type of infection occurs less commonly, making it a shock to doctors and health agencies. The way it is spread is through close contact with infected people. The infection has been associated almost exclusively with respiratory disease. The easiest way to avoid getting this disease is by washing hands frequently, which children do not do; avoid touching eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands; avoid kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or utensils with people who are sick. These are all common knowledge to us, but for some reason we are indifferent towards all these simple rules. Hopefully, this disease will be wiped out soon and the amount of spreading diseases will decrease.