Coxsackievirus: it is a enteroviruses.
A group of vruses which can be found in the alimentary canal (the intestines)
of infected people. Enteroviruses includes: polioviruses, coxsackievirus
and echoviruses.
Coxsackieviruses can be mild to severe and even fatal disease humans.
Reseachers of coxsackievrus B3 (CVB3) have focused primarily on the
ability of CVB# to replicate in heart cells and the complications. They
found that the virus replication by itself causes damage to heart cells,
and that they evaluated the ability of replicating virus to cause white
blood cells (cell to fight infections/immune cells) to enter the heart
tissue. therefore causing myocarditis (inflammation of the heart
tissue). They also showed that the enteroviral infections with myocarditis
and with heart failure called idiopathic (unknown cause) dilated (enlarged
heart size) cardiomyopathy (a heart with abnormal heart cell) also called:
IDC.
Researchers believes taht the enteroviruses is a major source for causing
IDC or heart failure, and may be a primary caused in the disease processes
which result in heart failure and heart trransplantations.
Hand-foot-and -mouth disease is known to be associated with coxsackieviruses:
mainly affecting young children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States
has made recommendations for
hand-foot-and-mouth disease in the child care setting:
Make sure that all children and adults use
good handwashing technique. especially after toileting and diaper changing
and before eating.
Do not exclude ill persons, because exclusion
may not prevent additional cases since the virus may continue to be excreted
for weeks after the symptoms have disappeared. Also, some persons excreting
the virus may have no symptoms. However, some benefit may be gained by
excluding children who have blisters in their mouths and drool or who have weeping lesions on their hands.
The most common sickness caused by coxsackieviruses is a nonspecific
febrile illness. Children have a fever which lasts an average of 3 days.
Sometimes the fever leaves for 2 or 3 days and then returns. Sometimes
this is the only symptom, but sometimes children also have a headache or
a sore throat. Some children vomit at the beginning of the illness, or
say, complain about having a ‘tummy ache’.
Sometimes they have one or two loose stools. The patient may have muscle
pains, especially in the legs. Usually not much is found on physical exam
or blood test.
Coxsackieviruses can cause the common cold. They can also cause croup,
bronchitis, pneumonia, hepatitis, pancreatitis, arthritis, diabetes, meningitis,
encephalitis, temporary or permanent paralysis, and viral myocarditis —
to name some of the many possibilities
These infections can be extremely serious. Viral myocarditis,
such as what you are now seeing in Malaysia, is an infection of the heart
muscle. When coxsackievirus causes myocarditis, the fatality rate is high
(International Journal of Cardiology, May 1996).
The majority of coxsackieviral infections are mild and complete recovery
is the rule. There are serious cases but are rare.
Treatment: Your doctor may prescribed other than the usuall
classical medications for heart failure, (usually for the child who is
seriously ill. —Acyclovir (Zovirax) is an antiviral medicine that shound’nt
work, but found that it helps with symptoms. ( it is used for chicken pox
and herpes)
Your doctor may start an I.V. immunoglobulin (this contains antibodies
to coxsackieviruses made by people who have effectively fought off the
infection)
Researchers also found that an antiviral medicine that is developed
to fight the AIDS virus may help to fight against coxsackievirus.