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CDC warns about virus affecting infants

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Doctors and other health care providers are being warned to look out for symptoms of a virus that can cause seizures and severe illness in infants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert this week on the virus, called parechovirus, which was first found to be circulating in the U.S. in May.

Here are five things for parents to know about the virus and the CDC’s warning.

1. Parechovirus is especially dangerous for babies under 3 months old.

The virus, known as PeV, can cause severe illness in babies under 3 months old, and is most dangerous to newborns.

According to the CDC, the virus can cause sepsis-like illness, seizures and meningitis — or meningoencephalitis — in infants, and can lead to long-term neurological complications in rare cases.

2. The type of parechovirus currently spreading is the most severe.

Most types of human parechoviruses are common childhood pathogens and less serious in kids older than 6 months, spreading through sneezing, coughing and saliva and feces.

The type that has been detected in newborns and young infants, PeV-A3, is the type “most often associated with severe disease,” according to the CDC.

PHOTO: A closeup on a baby's feet in a crib. (STOCK IMAGE/Getty Images)
PHOTO: A closeup on a baby’s feet in a crib. (STOCK IMAGE/Getty Images)

3. Symptoms include seizures.

The CDC has instructed health care providers to watch for symptoms of fever, sepsis-like syndrome, seizures and meningitis without a known cause in young infants.

MORE: New infant sleep guidelines advise against hats and weighted swaddles, blankets

PeV can be detected through lab tests from stool swabs and respiratory specimens, as well as cerebrospinal, blister or blood specimens, depending on the symptoms.

4. The rise in cases could be due to more testing.

The CDC acknowledged in its alert that the higher number of cases reported over the past few months could be a result of better testing.

“Because there is presently no systematic surveillance for PeVs in the United States, it is not clear how the number of PeV cases reported in 2022 compares to previous seasons,” the CDC said. “PeV laboratory testing has become more widely available in recent years, and it is possible that increased testing has led to a higher number of PeV diagnoses compared with previous years.”

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