Enterovirus 68 is suspected of sickening children in more than 40 states, and has now been linked to four deaths, though its exact role still remains unknown.
Will Cornejo recovers at a Denver hospital on Sept. 5 from what doctors suspect is the respiratory virus EV-D68.
Cyrus McCrimmon, Denver Post via Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control has detected Enterovirus D68, or EV-D68, in four people, including 10-year-old Emily Otrando of Rhode Island. According to the Rhode Island state health department, Otrando died from a staph infection "associated with enteroviral infection."
Beyond that, there are a lot of unanswered questions. The other people who died and then tested positive for EV-D68 have not been publicly identified. And in every case, it's unclear what role EV-D68 actually played in their deaths, the CDC reported. At this point, medical investigators are still scrambling to understand what is happening.
The expansion of the illness across the U.S. has been dramatic; less than a month ago, authorities were saying the illness had spread to 10 states. But by Oct. 1, the only states where EV-D68 hadn't been detected were Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, and Vermont, the CDC reported.
The CDC has confirmed 500 cases of EV-D68 in the U.S. However, the total number of cases could be higher; in Colorado, authorities have reported treating thousands of suspected enterovirus patients, according to the Denver Post , and other states have seen significant outbreaks as well. Missouri and Illinois were the first states to document the spike in cases.
The Children's Hospital Colorado, where doctors have treated patients with EV-D68.
Marc Piscotty / Getty Images
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