By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

As news coverage focuses on the latest clusters of suspected—and, in some instances, confirmed—cases of human enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) as they occur in successive regions of the U.S., here’s a quick primer on what is known about EV-D68.

Is this a new, dangerous virus?
EV-D68, a non-polio enterovirus, is not a “novel” virus—the term used to describe emerging infections such as SARS and MERS. It’s more accurate to describe it as the CDC does: it is an “increasingly recognized” cause of respiratory infections, especially in children.

EV-D68 was first isolated in 1962. While reports of EV-D68 since then have been sporadic, the CDC in 2011 reported on clusters of this viral infection in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona as well as in Asia and Europe. It’s likely that there are hundreds or even thousands of EV-D68 infections every year in the U.S. But as with many other viral infections, they will range in severity, and an infection that looks like “a cold” isn’t usually brought to the attention of a health care provider.

According to the CDC, most enterovirus infections are actually asymptomatic; this may be the case with EV-D68 as well.

Diagnostic testing for EV-D68 involves RT-PCR and gene sequencing. Most hospital labs therefore are unable to test for it. Some readily […]