Apparent enterovirus cases declining in city

Apparent enterovirus cases in Boston have been on the decline since they peaked the week of Sept. 20, the city's director of infectious disease said today.

Dr. Anita Barry told the Boston Public Health Commission board that emergency-room visits and hospital admissions for children and teens with severe asthma or other respiratory problems are still running ahead of last year but that rates have been dropping steadily since last month.

Barry said she can't say exactly how many of those cases are due to enterovirus D-68, because the tests used by the city and local hospitals can only determine if a patient has one of a family of viruses that can cause serious respiratory problems, not that specific one. Only the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and a few specialized labs currently can provide an absolute diagnoses of infection with that virus, she said.

However, the city began bracing for possible infection after learning of clusters of "very, very serious respiratory illness" - especially in young asthma sufferers - in other parts of the country.

Barry said the week of Sept. 20, 9.2% of all emergency-room visits were by kids and teens with lung infections, compared to 4.6% for the same week last year.