%0 Journal Article
%T Prevalence and clinical presentation of EV-D68 infections in Kansas City children during the 2022 season.
%A Gummersheimer S
%A Hayes A
%A Harrison C
%A Lee B
%A Schuster J
%A Dhar M
%A Sasidharan A
%A Banerjee D
%A Selvarangan R
%J Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis
%V 107
%N 1
%D 2023 Sep 21
%M 37385072
%F 2.983
%R 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2023.115992
%X Seasonal EV-D68 infections can strain medical care resources due to increased pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory illness. In this study, we examine Kansas City's 2022 EV-D68 season. Rhinovirus/enterovirus (RV/EV) positive respiratory specimens from standard of care testing were salvaged and tested by EV-D68 specific PCR. Of the 1412 respiratory specimens tested from July 1 to September 15, 2022, 346 (23%) were positive for RV/EV and EV-D68 was detected in 134/319 (42%) salvaged RV/EV positive specimens. The median age of children with EV-D68 infections was 35.2 months (IQR 16.1, 67.3), which was older than children with non-EV-D68 RV/EV infections (16 months, IQR 5, 47.8), but younger than children infected during the 2014 EV-D68 outbreak. EV-D68 infection was more likely to cause severe disease in children with asthma compared to those without asthma. Real-time EV-D68 monitoring for outbreaks could potentially improve resource utilization by hospitals and help prepare for surges of respiratory disease.