New Virus Sweeping Schools, Sending Kids to Hospitals

By way of Wombat-socho's "Live at five: 09.08.14": Virus hitting Midwest could be 'tip of iceberg,' CDC official says

A respiratory virus is sending hundreds of children to hospitals in Missouri and possibly throughout the Midwest and beyond, officials say.

The unusually high number of hospitalizations reported now could be "just the tip of the iceberg in terms of severe cases," said Mark Pallansch, a virologist and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Viral Diseases.

Ten states have contacted the CDC for assistance in investigating clusters of enterovirus: Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

At a news briefing Monday, the CDC confirmed that samples it tested from children who had been hospitalized in Illinois and in Kansas City did show signs of the EV-D68 virus, meaning there is a possible regional outbreak. Tests continue on samples from children suspected to have the virus in Colorado.

And maybe it's just coincidence that tens of thousands of children from foreign countries with poor health care have just violated our borders, and been rewarded with free educations in our schools. We may never know.