Adenovirus claims 6 lives at Wanaque center in US

A viral outbreak at a New Jersey long-term medical care centre has killed six children and left a dozen more infected.State officials confirmed a total of 18 cases of adenovirus among paediatric patients at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Tuesday.Officials said that though the adenovirus typically causes mild illness, children infected with it are medically fragile.The center has now been closed for new patients, as the investigation is going on.The children involved have "severely compromised immune systems" rendering them more susceptible to the virus, the health department said."The combination of a worse strain of adenovirus together with a fragile population has led to a more severe outbreak," it added.Adenoviruses can cause a wide range of illnesses such as

• Common Cold
• Sore Throat
• Bronchitis (a condition that occurs when the airways in the lungs become filled with mucus and may spasm, which causes a person to cough and have shortness of breath)
• Pneumonia (infection of the lungs)
• Diarrhea
• Pink eye (conjunctivitis)
• Fever
• Bladder inflammation or infection
• Inflammation of stomach and intestines
• Neurologic disease (conditions that affect the brain and spinal cord)

Adenoviruses can cause mild to severe illness, though serious illness is less common. People with weakened immune systems, or existing respiratory or cardiac disease, are at higher risk of developing severe illness from an adenovirus infection.