The providers at UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics in York and Spring Grove are seeing COVID and strep throat this week.

This week, pediatricians at Penn State Health are seeing hand, foot and mouth disease, COVID, a lot of colds, stomach bugs, viral respiratory infections, and a few cases of the flu.

The CVS MinuteClinic in York reports strep throat, viral upper respiratory infections and COVID this week.

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Physicians Roseville Pediatrics reports a lot of fevers, many of which were without other symptoms and likely consistent with roseola. That’s a specific virus that causes two to three days of high fevers followed by a lacy rash and no other cold symptoms.

They saw a moderate number of strep throat cases, a few more flu cases and an increase in the stomach bug and enterovirus.

Dr. Joan Thode offered the following advice about enterovirus and diarrhea:

“The formal name of the GI bug is gastroenteritis, which is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. This inflammation is caused by any one of a large number of viruses, and it often starts with vomiting and ends with diarrhea, though the opposite could be the case.

The cells of the intestines are designed to absorb into the bloodstream specific things from the food that passes through. The virus will damage these cells and stunt their ability to absorb. The resulting diarrhea will resolve once the virus is gone and the cells lining the intestines have a chance to be replaced. This process can take up to a week, especially in younger kids, so the diarrhea often will last longer than the initial vomiting.

Because the main thing lost with diarrhea is water, the primary goal for a child with acute gastroenteritis is hydration. Water is the most ideal hydration in children over 12 months. Babies younger than 12 months still have immature kidneys, so hydration efforts should be coordinated with your child’s doctor. Electrolyte solutions like Pedialyte can be used for vomiting or diarrhea, keeping in mind that water should be the primary form of rehydration.

While your child’s doctor may prescribe a medication that reduces vomiting, anti-diarrheal medications are not advised, as they cause the infection to stay in the intestines longer.

Children of any age who cannot keep any fluids down due to vomiting and/or are showing signs of dehydration, including less urine output, fewer tears, dry mouth, cracked lips, should be evaluated by their doctor quickly.

Enterovirus is a unique and particularly nasty virus that can cause not only cold symptoms like sore throat and congestion but also affect the tissues of the GI tract, causing belly pain and diarrhea. Enterovirus often causes fevers and can last four to seven days on average. The same rules for dehydration apply, as this virus can often cause babies and toddlers to be dehydrated.”