Virus outbreak in New Jersey kills 6 children and makes 12 more sick



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The Wanaque facility was "charged with not admitting new patients until the end of the outbreak and that they are in full compliance," according to the health department. On October 9, the health center was informed that the respiratory center was suffering from a respiratory illness. The calendar of deaths is not clear. According to the Department of Health, ages and medical information about children are not disclosed to protect the privacy of patients.

The New Jersey Department of Health said the investigation into an outbreak was underway and workers were on the scene Tuesday. On Sunday, a factory team discovered minor deficiencies in handwashing.

Adenoviruses can cause mild to severe diseases, although serious diseases are less common. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with a weakened immune system or existing respiratory or cardiac disease are at greater risk of contracting a serious illness resulting from an adenovirus infection.

This epidemic, caused by a type 7 adenovirus, "affects medically fragile children whose immune systems are severely compromised.The strain has been particularly associated with the disease in community living conditions and may be more serious", according to the report. communiqué from the Ministry of Health.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the center said it "immediately informed all relevant government agencies when the virus had been identified."

"The Wanaque Center continues to cooperate fully with these agencies and has sought their medical advice regarding the virus," the center said. "As a result, facility staff diligently applied all available infection prevention and control measures to protect the health and safety of Wanaque Center residents."

"Sustainable for the environment"

"Most of the time, adenoviruses produce a flu-like illness with cough and runny nose and a feeling of mold, but you recover," Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University told CNN. . "But they can also cause conjunctivitis and, especially in children, diarrhea."

In rare cases, in people whose immune systems are weakened, viruses can cause pneumonia or inflammation of the brain and surrounding tissues. In extremely unusual cases, an adenovirus infection can lead to death.

That said, most adenovirus infections are benign, with symptoms that typically last about 10 days, according to the CDC. And for most patients, home remedies and over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms will be the only treatment needed.

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Adenoviruses, unlike the flu, are not seasonal and can cause illness throughout the year. And even if there is a vaccine against adenovirus, it is only available for army recruits.

The viruses themselves are also "resistant to many common disinfectants and can remain infectious for long periods of time on environmental surfaces and medical devices," says the CDC. Adenoviruses tend to spread through coughing and sneezing, direct contact with an infected person or contact with objects and surfaces, such as doorknobs and switches, where adenoviruses can live and remain infectious for days or weeks.

Adenoviruses can "stay stable at room temperature for weeks" on impure surfaces, according to Dr. Alex Valsamakis, Director of Clinical Virology and Molecular Microbiology and Professor of Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University Johns Hopkins.

She described this family of viruses as "ecologically resistant".

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"Wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face," she told CNN. "It's the easiest way to avoid inadvertently transporting something from your fingers into your nose or mouth."

Adenovirus infections "usually occur sporadically – it is one case, one case – so the epidemics are quite rare," said Schaffner.

Between 2003 and 2016, the two most commonly reported types of adenovirus in the United States were types 2 and 3, although four additional types – 1, 4, 7 and 14 – also caused the disease, according to one 2017 report of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the CDC. These six types represent 85.5% of the 1,497 laboratory-confirmed samples reported during the period.

It is thought that this small number of cases is an under-representation of the actual number of cases because most people who become ill do not consult their doctor or their doctors do not seek this virus.

And adenoviruses remain difficult to diagnose because they are usually not part of a set of tests used to identify specific viruses, according to Schaffner. He said that the situation was changing and that for this reason he thought that the number of cases would increase.

Still, Schaffner does not think people need to worry about adenoviruses. "They mainly cause a whole host of embarrassing minor infections transmitted by children, often from children to adults," he said.

"But they are not as bad as the flu."

Michael Nedelman, Nadia Kounang and Liv Kiely of CNN contributed to this report.

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