The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there has been a significant rise of a rare respiratory disease amongst children across the United States.

Although sample tests have not yet produced a definite cause of the disease, the epidemic is believed to be from the human enterovirus 68.  

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The human enterovirus 68 (HEV68) was first isolated in 1962 in California from four children who had bronchiolitis and pneumonia. From then on, respiratory cases that have been rooted in the said virus has been rare and, the full spectrum of the disease associated with it is currently unknown. So far, infection that had been related to the virus has ranged from mild, which does not require hospitalization, to severe, which can require mechanical ventilation.

The Denver Post stated that the Children's Hospital in Colorado has had to treat 900 children with severe respiratory diseases since August 18. 

On the other hand, five children staying at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children have been put on ventilators just this week. Included in the severe cases was a 13-year old boy named William whose condition escalated from mild to life-threatening overnight.

Jennifer Cornejo, William's mother, shared,"He was OK. Then he was unconscious. It was unreal. I thought my heart would come out of my chest. It was so horrible."

Physicians warn that the respiratory disease seems to be more common in children with an existing asthma condition.

Aside from Colorado, the CDC believes that the same outbreak is currently ongoing in nine other states, namely Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Georgia. 
The Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio has seen a 40 percent increase of respiratory conditions from August 31 to September 2.

No deaths have been reported from the illness so far, but doctors warn that it is serious and may be fatal. Parents and children have been advised not to visit hospitals and areas where the disease has spread.