According to The Sentinel, EV-D68 has infected more than children in the UK this year and health officials are warning parents to be aware of symptoms in kids.
Parents are being advised about a virus which can leave children paralysed – as dozens of cases have been reported so far in the UK this year.
Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) has so far infected 38 children in the UK this year and parents are advised to watch for the symptoms of the polio-like bug.
The bug shot to prominence in 2014 after more than a thousands children across North America caught the disease – with over a hundred reported to be let paralysed.
Here is what you need to know about the illness.
What is Enterovirus D68?
First identified in California in 1962, the virus is one of 100 non-polio enteroviruses.
What are the symptoms and what does it do?
According to advice from Public Health England, EV-D68 can “cause mild to severe respiratory illness requiring ventilatory support and has been associated with cases and clusters of polio-like neurological symptoms including paralysis and meningo-encephalitis.”
Mild symptoms also include runny nose, sneezing, cough, body aches, and muscle aches – while severe symptoms include respiratory difficults (wheezing and trouble breathing)