Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/KZLNkuPWq_Y   As if CoVid and Monkeypox weren’t enough, the CDC is now warning us that several other viral diseases are upon us.  Parechovirus chiefly threatens neonates 3 months or younger but the fierce Marburg hemorrhagic virus, a cousin of Ebola, could kill large populations of any age.   Parechovirus, a non-polio enterovirus that frequently circulates in the US during the summer and fall, causes a mild to moderate upper respiratory tract infection with a fever and a rash.  In babies less than 3 months of age, the virus can trigger a severe sepsis-like illness with seizures and meningoencephalitis.  Pediatric health teams should be on the lookout for this disease and use appropriate testing and precautions to avoid spread.   Marburg virus, first discovered in 1967 in Marburg, Germany, is carried by bats, infects monkeys, and has infected more than 600 persons to date.  It is spread person-to-person via bodily fluids.  Once infected, a victim becomes febrile and develops bleedi