Enterovirus Gastrointestinal Viral Infection Causes Summer Cold, Flu Like Symptoms
Enterovirus is not a single virus, but a group of viruses that like to hang out and thrive in the gastrointestinal tract. The symptoms caused by their infections vary. Yet most commonly, an enterovirus infection causes cold and flu like symptoms.
Enteroviruses are grouped into four main categories:
- polio
- echovirus
- coxsackievirus
- non-polio enteroviruses
An enterovirus infection is contagious and can be spread easily via saliva, nasal secretions and fecal matter.
Most infected with an enterovirus will not experience any gastrointestinal viral infection symptoms at all. For those that do, many typically develop upper respiratory cold or flu type symptoms, like:
Enterovirus is the primary cause of summer and fall rashes in children, which often resemble the measles.
The only virus more common than non-polio enteroviruses are rhinoviruses, which causes the common cold. And a way to differentiate this gastrointestinal viral infection from influenza is that if your symptoms occur during the warmer months then its more likely an enterovirus.
While most of time the enterovirus is a short lived and rather minor cold, flu like health condition, it does have the slight potential to cause severe illness. Enteroviruses may also cause these complications and symptoms:
- myocarditis, pericarditis ~ cough, dyspnea, fever, chest pain, irregular heart rhythm
- Guillian-Barré syndrome ~ weakness & paralysis of the extremities, respiratory muscles
- acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis ~ eye pain, blurred vision, photophobia, eye discharge
- pleurodynia ~ infection causes pain & inflammation of chest & abdominal breathing muscles
- aseptic meningitis, encephalitis ~ headache, fever, photophobia, eye pain, sore throat, cough, muscle pain, rash
- a potentially serious infection in infants that’s similar to symptoms of bacterial infection ~ fever, irritability, excessive sleepiness
- hand-foot-and-mouth disease, herpangina ~ fever, sore throat, small blisters causing ulcers on hand, foot, mouth, swallowing difficulty
Enterovirus is capable of infecting different organs, thus producing a wide variety of symptoms.
Enterviruses can cause other health conditions, like pneumonia,myositis, arthritis or kidney inflammation. And myocarditis can lead to heart failure or be complicated by low blood pressure, hepatitis and meningitis.
There’s no vaccine available for the enteroviruses other than the polio causing enterovirus, which eliminated it from the Western Hemisphere. Mild infections usually resolve on their own.
In severe cases, enterovirus infection recovery largely depend on which organs were invaded and the condition of your immune system. And enterovirus infections are being studied for a possible association with the development of juvenile diabetes and chronic fatigue syndrome.
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