Avon Superintendent Gary Mala on how to Prevent Spread of Enterovirus D68

The following is a letter from Superintendent Gary Mala to parents regarding Enterovirus D68:

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As many of you may already know, Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), the virus that may cause severe respiratory illness, has recently been identified as the cause of illness in 22 states including Connecticut. EV-D68 causes a respiratory illness which is transmitted through coughing, sneezing, or touching contaminated surfaces.

In general, infants, children and adolescents with asthma are most at risk. Mild symptoms may include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, and body and muscle aches. Most of the children who were hospitalized with severe symptoms had substantial difficulty breathing and wheezing that compromised their exchange of air.
In order to help protect yourself and your children from contracting EV-D68, please consider taking the following steps which are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control:

 Wash hands often

 Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands

 Avoid close contact and do not share cups or eating utensils with people who are sick

 Disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick

 Since children with asthma are at higher risk for contracting EV-D68, it is important that they

maintain adequate control of their asthma as directed by their physician.

 Reinforce good respiratory hygiene

 Contact your child’s physician for any of the symptoms of EV-D68

 Children with fevers should be kept home until fever-free for 24 hours without the use of

medications.

Please speak to your children regarding taking proactive steps in practicing good hygiene skills to assist us in containing the spread of this illness. The following is a link to the CDC website where you can find further information about EV-D68:

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/EV-D68.html?s_cid=cdc_homepage_whatsnew_001

Please feel free to call me or your school nurse if you have any questions.

Very truly yours,

Gary

Gary S. Mala

Superintendent of Schools

Avon Public Schools

gmala@avon.k12.ct.us

Image via Shutterstock.

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