One of the four children in Calgary with partial paralysis linked to enterovirus D68 has been released from the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
An infectious disease specialist at the Alberta Children’s Hospital is hopeful that the enterovirus outbreak has peaked in Calgary.
Dr. Jim Kellner said “although there’s lots of children getting ill and lots of visits to the emergency department and lots of admissions …I’m hoping we’re possibility past the worst of it.”
It is possible that this year’s strain of the enterovirus D68 has a genetic change to it which may have caused more serious illness which means we may never see this strain again.
Enterovirus isn’t new, Dr. Kellner said “there’s dozens and dozens of different enteroviruses”
and we will likely see a different strain next year.
Dr. Kellner said “the enterovirus of 2014…is not going to the be enterovirus 2015 it will be a different strain and most likely based on historical precedent will go back to being a strain of enterovirus that causes relatively minor disease.”
The big difference this year was the increased in the number of children who has significant respiratory and/or neurological symptoms.
The enterovirus family covers about 120 strains – everything from polio to the common cold. The EV-D68 strain typically causes cold-like symptoms, but this season, in some extreme cases, it has been linked to paralysis and death.
