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This is up from the six deaths announced Tuesday among medically fragile children at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey.
New York Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal told reporters Wednesday. "The vast majority are under the age of 18. Some have been hospitalized, and some are being cared for at this facility."
The outbreak appears to be in favor of the facility's respiratory unit, he added.
While the timing of the deaths remains unclear, the health department is reporting to Nicole Kirgan.
"Health professionals and other people do not think of the common cold being, but when you're a child, disabled, chronic disease, immunosuppressed, elderly, multiple medical conditions, the common cold can be life-threatening," said Dr. David Gifford, Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for the American Health Care Association.
The association – whose member organizations represent nursing homes and other health care facilities – does not own or operate individual facilities. The Wanaque facility is a member of the national organization by default, Gifford said the association does not take positions.
Gifford said that the amount of time is variable. "There are so many nuances," he said.
"Generally, if you're seeing a number of people in an institutional setting who have an illness, you're not precautionary about the spread," said Gifford, cold.
In a statement Tuesday, the Wanaque facility said it "promptly notified when the virus was initially identified." On Wednesday, an additional statement by the facility said, "continue to work closely with the health facility".
The facility did not respond to multiple calls and emails for further comment. It has been instructed to accept new patients and to comply with the requirements of the law. According to Elnahal, the outbreak can only be reported with an additional box.
"Nursing homes do not call the health department often," Gifford said, but it has been a push for nursing homes and health care facilities to get health departments involved in outbreak investigations earlier.
"Elnahal said," What is its source was, or what is its specific mechanism of spread is from person to person? "But we are working with the CDC on this ongoing outbreak investigation."
On Wednesday, Elnahal described these as "low-level, self-limited deficiencies" that were subsequently resolved when health inspectors rechecked.
"It is rare that in any facility inspection would come with no quotes," Elnahal said. "If it's a number of quotes, all of which are low-level, we ask for a plan of correction.
"If the findings are severe enough to take further action, we will," he added.
The union said it represents the 70 nurses that work at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.
'Hardy' viruses
Adenoviruses can cause mild to severe illness, though serious illness is less common. People with weakened immune systems or other respiratory diseases are at higher risk of developing severe illness from an adenovirus infection, according to the CDC.
This outbreak, caused by adenovirus type 7, "is affecting medically fragile children with severely compromised immune systems," the health department said Tuesday.
In rare cases, among people with weakened immune systems, the viruses can cause pneumonia or inflammation of the brain and the tissues around it. In extremely unusual cases, an adenovirus infection could result in death.
That said, most adenovirus infections are mild, with symptoms usually lasting 10 days, according to the CDC. And for most patients, home remedies and over-the-counter medications will be required.
Adenoviruses, unlike the flu, are not seasonal and can cause illness throughout the year. And while an adenovirus vaccine exists, it's available only to recreated military.
Dr. Alex Valsamakis, Director of Clinical Virology and Molecular Microbiology, and Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She described this family of viruses as "environmentally hardy."
"Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face," she previously told CNN. "That's kind of the easiest way to prevent inadvertently transporting you from your fingers into your nose or mouth."
Adenovirus infections "usually occur sporadically – here a case, there is a case – so outbreaks are pretty rare," Schaffner said.
From 2003 through 2016, the two most commonly reported adenovirus types in the US were 2 and 3 types, though four additional types – 1, 4, 7 and 14 – also caused illness, according to a report from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease of the CDC. These six types accounted for 85.5% of 1,497 laboratory-confirmed specimens reported during the time period.
This case is one of the most important cases in the world, which is one of the most important causes of illness.
And adenoviruses are still difficult to diagnose since they are not typically included in a panel of tests used to identify specific viruses, according to Schaffner. He said this is changing, and for that reason, he believes the number of cases will rise.
Still, Schaffner does not think people need to be worried about adenoviruses. "They cause a lot of children, often from children to adults," he said.
"But they're not nearly as serious as influenza."
CNN's Nadia Kounang and Liv Kiely contributed to this report.
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