A Wheat Ridge doctor says his hospital has seen two adults die in the last two weeks from complications from a form of the enterovirus, with 19 cases being documented in the last month.
“The cases with kids have gotten a lot of the press, but it’s already spreading to adults — it just hasn’t been recognized,” said Dr. Phil Emrie, a critical care pulmonologist at Lutheran Hospital in Wheat Ridge.
Emrie said the patients he’s been treating may not exactly have enterovirus-68, the virus behind a sizable number of respiratory illnesses in children in Colorado and across the United States. Children’s Hospital Colorado has treated more than 4,000 children since Aug. 18 for enterovirus 68 and other cold viruses. About 10 percent of them, roughly 400, for severe respiratory illness, said Children’s infection specialist Christine Nyquist.
Of those, spinal cord infection, also called myelitis. Statewide and nationwide, millions of children have been affected by the outbreak, but most suffered only mild cold symptoms.
Emrie said in recent weeks Lutheran Hospital began seeing more and more adult patients with severe respiratory issues and asthma-like conditions — many of whom he said had no history of the disease whatsoever.
He said the hospital began testing the patients with a respiratory viral panel that tests for numerous viruses, including the enterovirus. Emrie said the turnaround time for results can be as fast a couple of hours.
“We weren’t routinely testing for this a year ago and most places probably aren’t,” Emrie said. “But we were also able to put two and two together because we knew about the kids.”
Emrie, who was first interviewed by CBS4, said he knows a number of people, including some hospital workers, who have gotten the enterovirus, “and done fine with it.”
“It almost seems to be the luck of the draw,” he said. “The ones who worsen seem to have some respiratory issues that’s causing the inflammation and perhaps there’s some other condition that makes them more vulnerable.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@denverpost.com or twitter.com/anthonycottondp
