Schumer: More Than a Dozen Children in New York Affected by Serious Respiratory Virus

Press Release

As enterovirus D68 moves closer to New York City and its large population of asthmatic children, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide critical resources to New York State's local communities, schools and parents that will help ensure this serious respiratory virus is quickly recognized, diagnosed and treated, while also limiting the number of children that are unnecessarily admitted to New York's hospitals.

Schumer said that just this week, the first cases of enterovirus D68 were found in New York City and Long Island, and asked the CDC to provide the state with resources to help detect and isolate this virus through a three-pronged plan. First, given that schools and parents have difficulty recognizing the virus from other more common illnesses, Schumer said the CDC should provide school-oriented guidance so that children exhibiting serious symptoms, especially children with asthma, are being detected before the virus can spread. Second, Schumer is calling on the CDC to provide New York State labs with additional resources, like test supplies or CDC health personnel, for testing and confirming cases of the virus. New York is currently one of the only states with the laboratories and expertise to test for this viral strain -- which was very rare until recently - and Schumer said that additional resources will help New York State continue to test and confirm cases from within the state and from the increasing number of cases emerging in at least 18 states across the country. Third, Schumer urged the CDC to do more to encourage health professionals to report cases of the enterovirus to the CDC, so that they can track how and where the virus is spreading.

Schumer was joined by Dr. Martin J. Blaser, M.D., Director, Human Microbiome Program, New York University Langone Medical Center.

"A rare and serious respiratory illness is impacting thousands of kids across the country, and is moving rapidly across New York State towards New York City and Long Island; the CDC must launch a more comprehensive and aggressive plan to help ensure that New York's hospitals and labs have the resources and testing supplies needed to handle the influx of patients, and to ensure that schools and parents know which symptoms they should be on the lookout for," said Schumer. "All hands must be on deck to combat this virus and that's why CDC should launch a plan that sends additional resources to New York so that they can appropriately and accurately recognize, test for and treat the enterovirus D68 -- particularly because New York State has one of the only labs that can test for this virus, and must help handle the nation's caseload. It's also important for our schools and parents to get the guidance needed to spot the symptoms of enterovirus D68 immediately and make sure appropriate action is taken--whether it be sending a child home from school or admitting the child to the hospital. And, CDC should also make sure health care professionals are reporting instances of this virus so that we can properly track caseloads, which is not happening consistently."

According to the CDC, enterovirus D68 is a virus that can cause mild to severe respiratory illness; symptoms include, fever, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, body and muscle aches, difficulty breathing and wheezing. The virus spreads from person to person through coughs, sneezes or touching a contaminated surface. Symptoms may be more serious in children with a history of asthma. In New York City, according to the most recent data, there are approximately 20,000 children ages 0-4 with asthma, 21,950 children 5-14 years old, and there are 290,000 adults. At first, the virus may appear to be a cold which can then lead to more serious symptoms that can lead to hospitalization.

Health professionals are not required to report cases of enterovirus D68 to health departments and the CDC, and any data from CDC is based on voluntary samples provided by labs. Therefore, CDC is unaware of exactly how many individuals have been impacted by the outbreak. According to CDC, between August to September 18, 2014, there were 153 confirmed cases of enterovirus D68 in 18 states. However, according to media reports, thousands have been affected by the virus. Media reports also suggest that the illness has affected more than 12 children in New York, including one in New York City and one in Nassau County. According to the New York State Department of Health, there are confirmed cases in the Capital Region and Central New York.

Many hospitals across the country are seeing a surge in the number of children admitted with respiratory symptoms. According to media reports, Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital's Emergency Room saw 129 patients this past Monday, including 46 who had respiratory symptoms. However, only 5 of those were admitted. The following day, the ER saw 106 children, including 27 had respiratory symptoms. Only three of those were admitted. Typically, the Upstate ER sees 75 children per day. Schumer used this as an example of the strain that this virus is putting on New York's hospitals, both in real and perceived cases of the enterovirus. Schumer said that this demonstrates the need for written materials and other types of guidance for the schools and parents, so that critical cases can be detected and distinguished from more common illnesses that do not require hospital visits.

Schumer today called on CDC to take three steps to help combat enterovirus D68. First, Schumer urged CDC to provide guidance to schools to help school officials and parents recognize the symptoms of the virus. This could include written and online materials that are disseminated from the CDC to New York State and then to parents, school nurses and teachers. There are similar materials and protocols for caring for children with asthma. Schumer said that more guidance will help ensure that those children who become sick get the diagnosis, treatment and care that they need. Schumer added that information may also help ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed with children who don't have the virus. For example, children that do not exhibit any temperature or respiratory issues likely do not have the enterovirus. Second, Schumer urged CDC to provide New York State hospitals and labs with additional resources for testing and confirming cases of the virus. Schumer explained that the resources could include additional testing supplies or additional personnel to help New York State labs, which are some of the few that have the capacity to test for the enterovirus and are helping the national CDC labs handle the nation's caseload of testing and confirming this virus. Lastly, Schumer called on the CDC to encourage all health professionals to report cases of this virus to help track the caseload.

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