Original article by Greg Hladky
(CNN) — More than 1,000 children and teens have been sickened with a scary water-borne virus called enterovirus 68 since the beginning of the school year, according to health officials in Ontario, Canada.
Seven more cases of enterovirus 68 have been confirmed in the province, with more than 450 schools affected.
Six more adults have been confirmed with the disease, bringing the total number of probable cases in Ontario to 1,577.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that 62 people have been infected with enterovirus 68, and 434 schools have been affected in Ohio and Michigan. This includes a case in New Jersey, though it was not confirmed as enterovirus 68.
Enterovirus 67 sickened more than 7,500 people in the United States last year, according to the CDC. Symptoms include a fever, cough, runny nose, skin rash and body aches. While the vast majority of people recover on their own, very few people in the rare category have died.
The majority of people with the virus are not sick enough to be tested for it, though those who are do not have any symptoms.
Symptoms can begin from three to 14 days after getting the virus, and about 10% to 30% of people who are infected have encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.
Enterovirus is most commonly associated with children’s ear infections and respiratory illnesses, according to the CDC.
So far, enterovirus 68 has been identified in at least three states: Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan.
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