| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor, Big Radio |
If you or your child feel like you’ve caught a double dose of both the respiratory flu and the stomach bug, it might be Adenovirus.
Dan Beardmore is a pediatrician at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital-Janesville. He says he’s seen a rise in children recently who’ve screened positive for Adenovirus. Beardmore says the virus is common, but the infection can last longer and pack a bigger wallop of severe symptoms compared to a cold or flu.
He says to look for crossover symptoms that you’d associate with the common cold or influenza, such as sinus and chest congestion combined with nausea and other digestive system illnesses you’d associate with the stomach bug.
It can be tricky to self-isolate when infected with Adenovirus, and Beardmore says it’s harder for public health officials to spot outbreaks of the virus. That’s because it can often take half a month of infection before major symptoms of Adenovirus start to show up.
That’s longer than the typical, three- to four-day incubation period for influenza, or the five- to eight-day incubation that’s the norm with COVID-19 infection.
The virus also does not seem to spike during typical U.S. cold and flu seasons. Beardmore says there are outbreaks of it all year long.
Beardmore says Adenovirus infections aren’t always severe, but symptoms can hit young children hard enough that pediatricians consider it in the same league as some Superbugs. He calls it one of the top “bad actor” viruses that all pediatricians look out for.
He says look for less common combinations of symptoms or maladies such as viral conjunctivitis–commonly called “pink eye,” vomiting or other gastrointestinal illness, along with cough, sore throat and fever that seems to spike longer than a few days.
The National Institutes for Health says it’s uncommon for people to be simultaneously infected with Adenovirus and other now-common viral illnesses such as COVID-19.
Beardmore says people should wash their hands frequently, especially if they’re around someone who shows symptoms of Adenovirus or cold or flu. He says people should reach out to their doctor over serious, flu-like symptoms that linger longer than usual — such as severe headache, dehydration or a high fever that lasts longer than four or five days.
