Allergies Don’t Cause a Fever — At Least, Not Directly
Enterovirus Symptoms: A Comprehensive List
Enterovirus infections often cause no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms. Though rare, they can lead to serious complications. Children and people with weaker immune systems are most at risk.
Enteroviruses are a group of viruses from the Enterovirus genus. "Entero" means intestine, which is how these viruses enter your body.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), enteroviruses are responsible for about 10 to 15 million infections in the United States each year.
Enterovirus infections do not always cause symptoms. If symptoms occur, they're usually mild and include:
Babies, children, and teens are much more likely to have symptoms than adults.
Though rare, enteroviruses can cause more serious complications.
Keep reading to learn more about the symptoms and complications of enterovirus and how doctors diagnose and treat them.
These are all types of non-polio enteroviruses.
Certain types of enteroviruses are more likely to cause severe symptoms and complications than other types.
Rhinoviruses
Common symptoms of rhinoviruses include:
Coxsackieviruses
Coxsackieviruses often do not cause symptoms. If they do, you'll likely have symptoms similar to the common cold or flu.
Symptoms of HFMD include:
Echoviruses
An echovirus infection usually does not cause any symptoms. If you do have symptoms, they're likely to be similar to those of the cold or flu.
Though rare, an echovirus infection can cause a complication known as viral meningitis. This is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
If meningitis is suspected, the person will require hospitalization for a lumbar puncture and antibiotics until a bacterial cause is ruled out. They are also observed for possible complications.
Polioviruses
Poliovirus, the virus that causes polio, is also a type of enterovirus. Most people with poliovirus infections will not have symptoms. According to the CDC, about 1 in 4 people get flu-like symptoms from poliovirus, including:
The most notable complication of poliovirus is poliomyelitis, or polio for short. Polio causes paralysis, which means you lose the ability to move parts of your body, including the muscles that help you breathe. This occurs in less than 1% of cases.
About 1% to 5% of people with poliovirus will experience meningitis.
Widespread use of the polio vaccine has largely led to the eradication (killing off) of polioviruses in the United States.
Other types of enteroviruses
Two other well-known enteroviruses are enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) and enterovirus A71 (EV-A71).
EV-D68 typically causes mild symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, cough, and body aches. However, in 2014, EV-D68 caused a nationwide outbreak of respiratory illness in the United States. The CDC now monitors it closely.
EV-A71 is well known because it has caused epidemics of HFMD in Southeast Asia. It's also linked to more severe neurologic diseases, such as meningitis, encephalitis (swelling of the brain and spinal cord), and AFM.
Can enteroviruses affect your brain?Though rare, enteroviruses can cause inflammation in your brain's outer layer (meningitis) or tissue (encephalitis). These conditions cause more severe symptoms, like:
Enteroviruses, particularly coxsackieviruses and echoviruses, cause over half of all viral meningitis cases in adults and infants.
Still, very few people with enterovirus infections will develop these brain complications. Most people who get mild viral meningitis or encephalitis from an enterovirus infection recover completely without treatment.
By the time you're a teen or adult, you've probably already had at least one type of enterovirus infection. After your first infection, your body's immune system can remember the virus and build immunity to it.
This immunity acts as protection, and adults with immunity can usually recover from an enterovirus infection without having any symptoms.
Infants and children, however, may not yet have built up immunity to enteroviruses, so they're much more likely to experience symptoms.
Common symptoms of enteroviruses in children are similar to those of the common cold. They include:
Severe symptoms are more common in:
Some practices may help you prevent enterovirus infections. These can include:
Since infants are particularly susceptible to getting enterovirus, it's best to keep your baby away from people with cold or flu-like symptoms.
If you or your child is experiencing flu-like symptoms, it's best to stay home from school or work and avoid public areas and contact with others. This can help prevent the transmission of the virus to others.
A vaccine to protect against poliovirus is available. However, vaccines to protect against non-polio enterovirus infections are not yet available.
Enteroviruses mostly cause symptoms in infants and children but can also affect adults.
Symptoms tend to be mild and similar to those of the common cold or flu. In rare cases, the viruses may cause inflammation in the brain or heart, paralysis, or severe respiratory complications.
Contact a doctor if you or your child has flu-like symptoms that don't go away, get worse over time, or cause symptoms such as:
One Of The Worst Flu Seasons In Years Will Linger This Spring, CDC Warns
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Your support makes all the difference.Read moreOne of the most intense flu seasons the U.S. Has seen in years will continue to linger this spring, according to federal health officials.
There have already been at least 43 million illnesses, 560,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths from seasonal influenza thus far, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including more than 150 pediatric deaths.
"Seasonal influenza (flu) activity remains elevated nationally but has decreased for five consecutive weeks," the agency wrote in its latest update. "The season has peaked; however, flu-related medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths remain elevated, and CDC expects several more weeks of flu activity."
While flu seasons typically taper as the temperature warms, the virus circulates year-round.
This is the first season classified as "high severity" since the 2017-18 season, when there was a record number of flu-associated deaths in children and more than 80,000 deaths overall.
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Health officials are warning that this year's intense flu season will continue to hang around for 'several' more weeks. There have already been 43 million illnesses reported and 24,000 deaths (AFP via Getty Images)A flu season is deemed high severity by looking at rates of hospitalizations, percentages of deaths and influenza-like illness visits and translating the data into intensity thresholds. Severity is classified as "high" if at least two indicators peak between mid-range and high-intensity thresholds.
The CDC notes that the cumulative hospitalization rate for this season is the highest it has seen since 2010 to 2011.
While many Americans expect flu season to end with the spring, experts say that isn't the case.
"I think a lot of people have been acclimatized to relatively mild flu seasons the last several years, because the Covid-19 pandemic really disrupted the circulation of flu," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Nexstar.
"This season has been more on par with seasons that we saw pre-Covid. It's sort of going back to resembling what we used to have in 2018-19, which people have long forgotten about," he said.
Health officials in Oregon and elsewhere are telling residents to expect impacts into the spring– noting that it's not too late to get a flu shot.
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Getting a flu shot remains the best way for people to protect themselves against the flu. And, it's not too late to get it (Getty Images for National Counci)"People continue to be hospitalized with the flu, at a time of the year when Oregon flu activity traditionally begins to wind down," the Oregon Health Authority said in a recent Facebook post.
"Late season surges are not uncommon, and Oregon's flu season usually lasts well into April, sometimes May or even June," it said. "So if you haven't gotten your flu vaccine yet this season, it's not too late!"
"We usually think about the flu shot as a fall activity, but as we've heard, the flu is still active in most communities and can remain active through April," Indiana pharmacist Kelly Goode told WTHR. "The flu vaccine is not only the best safe and effective way to guard against flu, but also plays a crucial role in reducing the potential for other serious complications. So if you haven't gotten your flu shot yet, you should make plans to visit your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible."
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