MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Norvesa Mosby tries to stay on top of the vaccines and doctor appointments for her 10-month-old son Anthony, but word about a new enterovirus that can hit young kids and can leave them gasping for breath threw her for a loop.
“Yes it does. He just turned 10 months and he actually had a little cough and runny nose. So that kinda spooked me,” Mosby said.
That runny nose and cough may be nothing, but doctors say now with enterovirus going around, you may want to check to be sure.
“People may think they have a bad cold, coughing, runny nose, fever and it progresses to a more severe form where children may require hospitalization,” Dr. Helen Morrow with the Memphis Shelby County Health Department said.
Enterovirus is really just a respiratory condition. It can be especially bad in children since their young bodies haven’t become immune.
It mimics the common cold, but Dr. Stephen Threlkeld with Baptist Hospital says when it flares up in kids who already have things like asthma, it can affect them so bad, they made need to go on oxygen or other respiratory support.
“It’s important for parents of kids with asthma to have a plan in place already. What to do in case of an outbreak of wheezing, who to call, medication to give, those sorts of things,” Threlkeld said.
Dr. Threlkeld says there is no cure for enterovirus. Parents just have to stay on top of their children’s breathing.
The condition will usually run its course in a few days.
Even though enterovirus has been around since 1962, not a lot is known about it.
It has never spread as fast as it has this year – 27 states and counting.
The symptoms of enterovirus are very similar to a cold. Just like a cold, the best way to prevent it is good hygiene including frequent hand washing and making sure to cover your mouth when you sneeze.