Houston hospital awaits test results from possible Enterovirus case

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Texas Children's Hospital is awaiting test results for Enterovirus on a child who treated there recently.

Dr. Paul Checchia says,"We have been very vigilant looking for it, both in house and away. "

That Enterovirus test was sent to the Center for Disease Control. The CDC says the delay could be caused for a number of reasons including:

• Minimum of three days to test for Enterovirus
• High volume of specimens submitted to the lab
• Prioritizing testing specimens from children with severe respiratory illness or who died.

Now health officials are linking the first death from Enterovirus to a New Jersey four-year old boy, in good condition, who died in his sleep last month. So far, EV D-68 has infected more than 500 people nationwide.

Dr. Checchia believes there might be more involved in the death, "We learned a lot from the H1N1 outbreak a couple of years ago, what really is dangerous to kids is that fact that they get other infections, like pneumonia, like staph infections."

Marie Gonzalez, a mother of two from Houston says both of her kids go to day care. She says, "We're always washing hands, bath every night if I hear of anything I will keep them home. Want to live in a bubble, but we can't live in a bubble."