22 INFANTS INFECTED WITH PARECHOVIRUS

A common childhood virus called parechovirus, which can cause severe illness in infants younger than 3 months, is spreading in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a health alert issued earlier this month.

Now, a new report from the CDC is offering details on a recent and "unusually large" cluster of the virus. This past spring, 23 infants between 5 days and 3 months old in Tennessee were infected within a six-week period, from April 12 to May 24. All of the infants developed a swelling of the brain or brain lining, a condition known as parechovirus meningoencephalitis, and all but one were hospitalized. Most of the infants, 21, fully recovered, but one has lasting seizures and another appears to have hearing loss.

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