Local Health Officials Investigate Rare Respiratory Illness

By Amie Schaenzer

Local health officials are working to figure out if an influx of children coming to their emergency rooms with respiratory illnesses have a rare virus that is quickly spreading across the Midwest.

Edward Hospital, which has locations in Plainfield and Naperville, has been busy treating patients with respiratory illnesses in recent weeks.

“I would say both our emergency departments and our pediatric inpatient units have been very busy with respiratory illnesses in the past two to three weeks,” said Mary Anderson, the Infection Control Manager at Edward Hospital.

The Naperville Emergency Department, which typically sees around 180 patients per day, has seen an average of 220 patients per day in September. But there is no way to quantify if the increase is directly related to a respiratory illness making its way through the Midwest, said Keith Hartenberger, the public information officer for Edward-Elmhust Healthcare.

Edward Hospital is currently working with the DuPage County Health Department and the Illinois Department of Health to determine if specimens from any of these patients test positive for enterovirus D68 -- a rare respiratory virus that has been making headlines in recent days after thousands of children across the Midwest have been hospitalized for respiratory issues.

“Not all patients will get tested and this is not a reportable disease,” Anderson said. “So I think (the health departments) are hoping to better understand the extent of illness in our community and to see what the range of symptoms might be.”

Meanwhile, not all area hospitals have seen a problem.

Central DuPage Hospital in Wifield and Delnor Hospital in Geneva has seen only a slight increase in respiratory illnesses in recent weeks. Most of those illnesses have been allergy-related and not related to the EV-D68 virus, said Chris King, senior manager for public relations at Cadence Health.

Understanding EV-D68: Symptoms, Testing

The Central for Disease Control reports hospitals in Missouri and Illinois are seeing more children than usual with severe respiratory illness caused by enterovirus D68. In Chicago, 11 of 14 specimens from the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital tested positive in recent weeks for EV-D68. The patients ranged in age from 20 months to 15 years old.

The virus is hard to detect because it mirrors many of the symptoms of common respiratory illnesses seen among children this time of year, Anderson said. Some patients have a fever while others do not. Some will have a mild illness while others will be much more severe. Those who are experiencing wheezing, shortness of breath and/or difficulty breathing -- or a high fever -- should seek medical care, Anderson said.

Testing for the virus is also not simple, Anderson said.

“There is no clear cut definition on who should be tested,” she said.

Edward Hospital has administered the PCR test on some patients who have visited with severe respiratory illnesses in recent weeks. The test, she said, is a preliminary test, which tests for a group of viruses, including EV-D68. Those specimens are sent out for further testing to determine if the patient has EV-D68.

There have been no deaths reported from the EV-D68 virus. Recent information from the CDC shows there have been patients admitted to an intensive care unit because of the virus. Those patients -- all between 6 months and 16 years old -- have had breathing or respiratory issues or show signs of viral pneumonia, Anderson said.

Visit the Centers for Disease Control website for more information on Enterovirus D68