The U.S. news media are giving little attention to one of the most significant and alarming current health stories – the World Health Organization has issued a global alert due to the outbreak in the U.S. of the debilitating Enterovirus D68. There has been speculation the polio-like Enterovirus, which mostly targets children, could have been carried into the U.S. by illegal-alien minors from Central America. The WHO’s alert for the Enterovirus 68, or EV-D68, in the U.S. was issued Sept. 17. A global WHO alert for the virus is exceptionally rare and is the first of its kind associated with an outbreak in the U.S. The last global alert for Enterovirus was issued in 2008 in China. The only other Enterovirus alert came 10 years earlier, in 1998, again in China. The U.S. news media, however, largely have failed to report on the WHO alert. A Google News search for the terms “World Health Organization, Enterovirus” finds no headlines on the alert other than the WHO’s own press release. The WHO release says that on Sept. 10, the U.S. government informed the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization of an “outbreak of severe respiratory illness associated with Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).” As of Sept. 17, according to the WHO report, 30 laboratory-confirmed cases of EV-D68 were reported in 12 states – Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. “Investigations into suspected clusters in many other states are ongoing,” WHO stated, justifying the issuance of the global alert. According to news reports, the EV-D68 virus so far has killed five children and has hit minors especially hard. Since mid-August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, has confirmed more than 600 cases of Ev-D68, noting almost all cases were documented in children. ~WND ♥ wnd/2014/10/ebola-look-out-for-another-debilitating-virus/#jWZG8j1b46TFcMHO.01
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 23:53:32 +0000