Is the Mystery Virus EV-D68 Being Spread across to American Children through Illegal Immigration?

I write this blog not as medical fact but as speculation. However, one must question if the new strain of Enterovirus EV-D68 could somehow be connected to the 112% increase in illegal unaccompanied minors and their dispersion around the country.

We do know that the first American case of this this virus was in California in 1962. However, it has rarely been reported since that time. With school now back in session, children are presenting in alarming numbers with this virus. Usually only causing mild upper respiratory and flu-like symptoms, the virus can lead to severe respiratory difficulties requiring ICU level care. Though the CDC has only confirmed 97 cases thus far, a vast majority of children who contracted the virus are being undiagnosed or simply written off as having an asthma attack or as acquiring a benign viral infection.

Dr. Marc Seigal, medical director and professor of medicine at Langone Medical Center wrote, “As many as 50,000 children, mostly from Central American countries… are not being detained for the purpose of identifying illness, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement relying on self-report of symptoms, and many have already been sent to other states, where disease can spread.”

Making matters worse, these unaccompanied minors who are now in our public school system interacting with American children are not being adequately immunized or even tested for communicable disease prior to entering the classroom. We have already witnessed the spread of measles, pneumonia and scabies (amongst others illnesses) between these unaccompanied minors. Is this what American children also have to look forward to upon entering the classroom this school year? Why should Obama or the rest of Congress care? All their kids are in private schools.

Though I write this blog as speculation, it is a valid question to ask. Through the lax medical testing and shipping of these illegal child immigrants across the country, are we exposing our children unnecessarily to unwanted health risks. The bigger question is, if EV-D68 is not being transmitted through these unaccompanied minors, what disease down the line could be?