Flu season has arrived

A long-known virus has sickened hundreds throughout the country, including Southeast Missouri, although it hasn't been confirmed. Meanwhile, flu season is starting.

Dr. Andrew Sledd, a pediatrician at Saint Francis Medical Partners, said there are definitely cases of enterovirus D68 here, but there is no way to test for it locally. Generally, Sledd said the illness has not been fatal -- just like a bad cold with wheezing.

"I'm sure that the subtype that made all the news is here ... but I couldn't tell you specifically because we can't test for it," he said.

Sledd said a state lab can conduct evaluations on certain samples, but all that can be tested for locally is whether the virus is one of the enterovirus family, which includes about 100 types. Identifying a virus as D68 has to be done through specialized labs either at the state level or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and only happens if the patient winds up in an intensive-care unit.

If you're sick, Sledd said, stay home, wash your hands with soap, not hand sanitizer, and take medicine if needed. Enteroviruses, he said, are generally considered self-limiting, meaning they take care of themselves.

Schools in Cape Girardeau County report they have not had any absences because of flu or enterovirus.

Vanessa Landers, communicable disease coordinator public health nurse at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, said there is no specific treatment for the virus.

Information from the CDC says the virus is passed through an infected person's respiratory secretions, such as saliva and nasal mucus. Enterovirus D68 likely spreads from when an infected person coughs, sneezes or touches and that surface is touched by others.

Sledd said if someone has a baby or child who is ill and diapers are changed a lot, the illness can come out in the child's stool for up to two weeks after the child is well again.

"It's a tricky little bug," he said.

Sledd said enterovirus is "a little more resistant to environmental factors," including alcohol and hand sanitizer. He said people should wash their hands with soap and disinfect whatever surfaces the virus might be on. He added that bleach will kill the virus, as well.

People are most likely to get enterovirus D68 in the summer and fall, with cases declining later in the fall, according to the CDC. In general, the CDC said, a mix of enteroviruses circulates every year and different types can be common in different years. The virus was first discovered in 1962, and small numbers have been reported regularly to the CDC since 1987, the information said.

But this year, the number of people with confirmed enterovirus D68 is "much greater than that reported in previous years." From mid-August to Friday, 691 people in 46 states and the District of Columbia have been confirmed to have respiratory illness caused by enterovirus D68. Sledd said it is possible for the virus to mutate.

Landers said there are illnesses hospitals, doctors' offices and health-care providers have to report to the health department, but enterovirus isn't one of them.

The CDC says mild symptoms may include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, body and muscle aches.

Severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing, the information said.

In general, infants, children and teenagers are most likely to get infected with enteroviruses and get sick. That's because they do not yet have immunity from previous exposures to the viruses.

Adults can get infected with enteroviruses, but they are more likely to have no symptoms or mild symptoms, according to the CDC.

Children with asthma and anyone with a compromised immune system is not going to fare as well, Landers said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639