Viral Outbreak at Pediatric Facility Kills 10th Patient

A 10th person died amid a viral outbreak at a pediatric care center while a different strain of the virus was found at another facility in the state, New Jersey health officials said Thursday. The state Health Department confirmed in a statement the "medically fragile child" at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation had the adenovirus infection, per the AP. There have been 28 cases associated with the respiratory virus at the center, where the affected children had severely compromised immune systems. One death was a young adult. "The loss of these young lives is heartbreaking, and our thoughts are with the families who are affected," Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal said in a statement.

The state also said there are four confirmed adenovirus cases among pediatric patients at Voorhees Pediatric Facility, near Philadelphia, but preliminary tests have ruled out it's the same strain affecting Wanaque. The department said it's working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the illness and announced earlier this week that infection control teams were being sent to New Jersey's four long-term pediatric centers to help with training. Officials have said there is not a wider public health concern stemming from the outbreak. New patients are not being admitted at Wanaque. (The symptoms of adenovirus are typically mild.)