Hospitals See Surge in Kids’ Breathing Problems

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Hospitals in the Twin Cities say they've been unusually busy treating children with severe respiratory problems that match the symptoms of an uncommon virus that's sickened children in at least a dozen Midwest states.

The Minnesota Department of Health says it still has not confirmed the presence of enterovirus 68 in the state.

But the region's largest pediatric hospital system, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, says it had to divert six patients to another hospital this week because its beds are full of kids with severe respiratory symptoms.

Chief nursing officer Roxanne Fernandez says that Children's emergency departments treated 90 children with severe symptoms on Wednesday. She says they would normally see about 20 children for breathing problems this time of year.