Preventing enterovirus from spreading among kids

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Pediatricians say they're seeing more and more kids coming in complaining of respiratory problems, and they say some of those cases may turn out to be enterovirus infections. So what can parents do to help prevent disease from spreading among kids?

Dr. Laurene Mascola, the chief of Acute Communicable Disease Control for the L.A. County Department of Public Health, says parents need to keep looking at the big picture.

"We've seen individual cases of this disease, but we have not seen outbreaks or clusters. And I think that's an important distinction," said Mascola.

So should parents worry?

"I think parents should always worry in general about children and their hygiene," said Mascola. "There are viruses galore that they can get every day, and there are no vaccines.

"The most important thing you can do, and I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old grandson, is to teach them to wash their hands all the time, washing their hands with soap and water, using the alcohol hand sanitizers," said Mascola.

Besides hand-washing, Mascola adds that kids should be taught to cough and sneeze into their elbows and shoulders, and parents should always keep sick kids at home.

Enteroviruses in general appear in late summer and tend to peak in early fall, but with D68, experts aren't sure what to expect. But local health officials say the latest data shows all enteroviruses appear to be on the decline.

Enterovirus D68 was first identified in California in the 1960s. So why are we now seeing serious cases being linked to paralysis? Dr. Mascola believes it has little to do with it mutating, as it has to do with the virus travel pattern and a person's past immunity to it.

"So that means everyone who's zero to 5 has never seen this type of enterovirus, D68, so they are completely susceptible," said Mascola. "So what might seem like a very sick child to you with D68, it's just because they've never seen it before."

Mascola predicts in the next five years we won't see too many problems with this virus, but we might be concerned about another one.