A new illness is sweeping through children in downstate Illinois and Missouri. WGN TV describes this disease as a “mystery virus” and notes that it is similar to a cold, but is more severe. Symptoms include a high fever, trouble breathing, and a rattling couch. A hospital in Quincy, IL has seen 70 children with what appears to be this same virus. The children came in over the holiday weekend. Reuters notes that, for the time being, children under the age of 12 have been asked to stay away from Blessing Hospital in Quincy.

Though some reports describe the condition as a mystery, WQAD 8 reports that respiratory illness is called Enterovirus 68, or HEV 68. It begins like other respiratory illnesses, with a fever, sneezing, runny nose, and a cough, but ends with many kids landing in the hospital. In addition to the children admitted in Quincy, St. Louis Children’s Hospital has seen a notable increase in patients with cases of this type of illness up 50 percent.

West of St. Louis, in Kansas City, MO, Children’s Mercy Hospital reported that it has had more than 300 cases recently. Their cases have affected children of all ages. Beyond this region, the Denver Post reported that children’s hospitals in Colorado are also seeing a spike in severe respiratory illness. Those hit the hardest are children with asthma and very young children. This article says HEV 68 is only the suspected virus, but it could be another, unconfirmed, uncommon, viral pathogen.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describes HEV 68 as a unique enterovirus that shares epidemiologic and biologic features with human rhinoviruses. The first confirmed cases were four children in California in 1962. Since that time, these cases were rarely reported, but six clusters in the U.S., Europe, and Asia were reported in recent years. HEV68 infection was associated with respiratory illness ranging from relatively mild illness that did not require hospitalization to severe illness requiring intensive care and mechanical ventilation. The full spectrum of HEV 68 is still unknown.