10th patient dies in a pediatric facility during a virus outbreak

TRENTON, NJ (AP) – A tenth person died of a viral outbreak in a pediatric care center, while another strain of the virus was discovered in another facility. State, announced Thursday New Jersey health authorities.

The state health department confirmed in a statement that the "Wanaque Center's fragile child of the medical center" for nursing and rehabilitation was suffering from adenovirus infection.

There were 28 cases associated with respiratory virus in the center, where affected children had a severely compromised immune system. A dead man was a young adult.

"The loss of these young lives is heartbreaking and our thoughts are with the families affected," Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal said in a statement.

The state has also reported four confirmed cases of adenovirus in pediatric patients at the Voorhees Pediatric Center, near Philadelphia, but preliminary tests have ruled out that this is the same strain that affects Wanaque.

The department announced that it was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the disease and announced earlier this week the dispatch of infection control teams in four long-term pediatric centers. New Jersey term to help them in their training.

Officials said that there was no wider public health problem stemming from the outbreak.

New patients are not admitted to Wanaque.

The department also said Thursday that the disease was last detected on Tuesday, October 30th. The previous date was Monday. But, says the ministry, this is not a surprise since the disease has a long incubation period of up to two weeks.

The outbreak will not be over until four weeks without a new disease happening.

The adenovirus usually poses little risk to healthy people. It can cause mild symptoms of colds or flu, and some strains can also cause diarrhea and pinkeye.

The strain found in the home of Wanaque Rehabilitation Center is called Type 7 and is one of the most powerful types. It sometimes causes more serious respiratory diseases, especially in those with weakened immune systems.

Elnahal had previously indicated that all cases of the outbreak occurred in a ventilator or ventilator unit. The department has since indicated that one staff member had fallen ill but had recovered.

The identity of the deceased and affected patients has not been revealed.

In the last decade, cases of serious illness and death from adenovirus type 7 have been reported in the United States, according to the CDC, but the number of people who died from it has n? is not clear.

The CDC cited a 2001 scientific article reporting a Type 7 outbreak in 1998 in a Chicago facility that killed eight patients. The newspaper indicates that civilian epidemics have not been reported frequently due to lack of laboratory resources.