The CDC this week noted what providers and parents have been seeing across the country: rising cases of a non-polio enterovirus causing severe respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).
Providers should be aware of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) causing severe respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in children and adolescents, the CDC said this week, saying that infections are rising across the country.
EV-D68 is one of more than 100 non-polio enteroviruses; it often arrives as summer turns to fall and can causes respiratory illness similar to a mild cold, or it may become more severe. It causes about 15 million infections a year in the United States.
It can also lead to AFM, with weakness and paralysis of the arms and legs. Past outbreaks of EV-D68 and AFM were seen in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
However, disease activity was low during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Over the past few weeks, news reports began popping up of children heading to the emergency department (ED) or being hospitalized with acute respiratory illness and asthma/reactive airway disease.
Surveillance data released Tuesday bore those reports out. The data shows that positive test results for rhinovirus/enterovirus “appears to be increasing at a rate comparable to that in past EV-D68 outbreak years,” doubling in a period of a few weeks through early September, the CDC said.
“Clinicians are advised to consider EV-D68 as a possible cause of severe respiratory illness in children and adolescents, particularly those with wheezing or who require respiratory support,” the CDC said.
In addition to testing for AFM, health care providers are urged to test for poliovirus, which has been found in New York wastewater.
AI in Health Care: Closing the Revenue Cycle Gap
April 1st 2025This commentary explores the current state, challenges, and potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care revenue cycle management, emphasizing collaboration, data standardization, and targeted implementation to enhance adoption.
Read More
Managed Care Reflections: A Q&A With Hoangmai H. Pham, MD, MPH
April 1st 2025To mark the 30th anniversary of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®), each issue in 2025 will include a special feature: reflections from a thought leader on what has changed—and what has not—over the past 3 decades and what’s next for managed care. The April issue features a conversation with Hoangmai H. Pham, MD, MPH, a member of AJMC’s editorial board and the president and CEO of the Institute for Exceptional Care (IEC).
Read More
Bridging Care Gaps With a Systemwide Value-Based Care Strategy
March 29th 2025Mapping care management needs by defining patient populations and then stratifying them according to risk and their needs can help to spur the transformation of a siloed health care system into an integrated system that is able to better provide holistic, value-based care despite the many transitions that continue among hospital, primary, specialty, and community care environments.
Read More