Six children died in a viral outbreak at New Jersey Pediatrics Center

A serious viral outbreak in a pediatric hospital in New Jersey has left six children dead and 12 others infected, the state health department said Tuesday.

The outbreak occurred at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, northern New Jersey. The center's website says it treats "medically fragile children" in its pediatric center.

The cause of the outbreak was not determined. The health department said it was conducting an investigation at the center and that the facility had been instructed to no longer admit new patients until the end of the epidemic. The date of death of the children was not clear and no information was provided on their age.

Health department inspectors arrived in Wanaque center on Sunday and found "minor hand washing deficiencies," the department said in a statement.

The epidemic, according to the agency, was a particular strain of adenovirus, which often causes mild illness, especially in young children. But the virus, which according to the ministry was particularly associated with living arrangements in community, had severely affected the children of this facility, whose immune system was fragile and compromised.

"The combination of a worse strain of adenovirus and a fragile population has led to a more serious epidemic," the department said.

A voice message left on Tuesday at the Wanaque Center's director of nursing was not immediately returned.