Virus infection in babies: WHO reports dozens sickened by deadly sepsis

The WHO reports Friday of at least three dozen cases of deadly viral sepsis in newborns. Meanwhile, doctors in the U.S. report a rise in enterovirus. in babies.

Reports of at least three dozen cases of dangerous and often deadly viral sepsis in babies across Europe — along with increasing circulation of similar viruses that typically spike in the summer and early fall — have pediatric infectious diseases experts in the U.S. on edge. 

"We are all on pins and needles here in the States," said Dr. David Kimberlin, a co-director of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"The more cases there are in Europe, the more concerned we are," Kimberlin said.

On Friday, the WHO confirmed that at least 26 infants in Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom had been infected with a rare type of enterovirus, called echovirus-11.

Eight of those babies died, with most deaths reported in France following organ failure and sepsis.