Eli Waller, the New Jersey 4-year-old who died of enterovirus, showed no symptoms of the disease. The boy had been kept out of pre-school the day before he died for a slight case of pink eye.
Eli was the first child directly linked to D68, the severe respiratory virus that has infected more than 500 people, mostly children, in 43 states and the District of Columbia. A 10-year-old Rhode Island girl died in late September from a rare combination of enterovirus D68 and a staph infection.
According to Hamilton Township, New Jersey health officer Jeff Plunkett Eli, who attended Yardville Elementary School, did not show any symptoms before his death. The Mercer County medical examiner determined that Eli’s pink eye was unrelated.