Federal health officials in the US are warning doctors and parents that a dangerous virus is spreading across the US causing fevers, seizures, confusion and other “sepsis-like” issues that can be life-threatening for young infants.
According to Insider, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that parechovirus is currently circulating in “multiple” US states. So far, the CDC has only collected positive samples of PeV-A3, which is the specific type of parechovirus that is most often associated with severe disease. At least one newborn is dead in Connecticut.
Baby Ronan was less than two weeks old when his mom starting noticing he was becoming “very angry,” and “crying a lot,” WTNH New Haven reported. His chest turned red, and then his face too, and at 14 days old he was admitted to the hospital, where he started having seizures. At 34 days old, the child died.
There is no known treatment for parechovirus. Older children who get infected may “only have mild illness,” like a cold, while others may remain completely asymptomatic during their infection, and feel nothing at all, the CDC says.
The CDC is urging pediatricians across the US to consider that parechovirus may be the culprit when very young patients present with unexplained: fever, sepsis-like syndrome, seizures or meningitis (common symptoms include: high fever, irritability, loss of appetite, and sleepiness)
The federal health agency is urging doctors to test for PeV in infants who may have such signs and symptoms “without another known cause.” US surveillance for parechovirus is spotty: the CDC typically logs fewer than 50 parechovirus cases across the country every year.
In toddlers under 5, common symptoms can include an upper respiratory tract infection, fever, and rash. Most “children are infected by the time they start kindergarten,” the CDC says.
