She had returned from Colorado just one week prior to developing a sickening cough. Low grade fever, with persisting cough and nasal congestion, this 4 week illness had left her drained. Antibiotics were useless and her inhalers were not working.
It was not until her second visit that I bothered to inquire about personal travel history and discovered she had been in the Midwest area of the U.S. Is it possible that my patient had contracted the severe respiratory illness, human enterovirus 68? Unfortunately, I have no quick test for viral confirmation.
Enterovirus 68 causes fever, cough, and general malaise. Symptoms can last weeks. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Illinois and Missouri are now reporting increased hospitalizations due to this spreading illness.
The New York Times recently reported on a Kansas City pediatric hospital which treated more than 300 children with respiratory illness during the month of August. About 15% were so ill that they required admission to high level intensive care. As you might expect, children with asthma or low immune systems are at highest risk for complications.
Coincidentally, now is the time of year that health care providers are seeing a surge in many other respiratory illnesses. Children are back at school sharing germs and bringing them home. Parents are being exposed then spreading germs at work.
It is highly difficult to prevent germs from spreading; but, the best way to control the spread of germs at home and at work is to clean your living/working area regularly with quaternary ammonium compounds (QUATS) registered by the Environmental Protection Agency. These products, have been shown to be effective against viruses and may reduce viral spread by 80-99%. According to a recent article, ”Simple interventions” using the QUAT-based products in “high touch “areas such as TV remotes, sink faucets, toilet handles, telephones, etc., could significantly reduce the spread of viruses such as enterovirus in your school, home and work place.
Clean as you might, this report from the University of Arizona (using tracer viruses) found viruses detected within 40-60% of workers within 2-4 hours after the use of non-QUAT cleaning methods. So be careful as you clean and use proper disinfecting products (listed above) because it is not a matter of IF we get the enterovirus 68 here in Dallas, but a matter of when does the virus get here?