Afraid of EV-D68? Another Deadly Virus Is Actually Killing Kids in U.S.It’s all over the headlines: Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68) is making kids sick in what appear to be unprecedented numbers. It might be causing paralysis — or maybe not. It may have infected some adults.

“Hysterical — that’s the way I describe it,” Checchia said about the reaction to EV-D68.

Every year, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV sends 75,000 to 125,000 children to the hospital and kills as many as 200 every year, numbers that are a little fuzzy because hospitals are not required to report deaths from RSV. Last year, influenza killed at least 105 kids. No deaths from EV-D68, which has been linked several hundred illnesses nationwide, have been reported.

“Enterovirus must have a really good PR agent because it is getting all the press and there is no real need for it,” Checchia told NBC News. “It is a significant respiratory pathogen, but it is not really different from a lot of other respiratory pathogens out there.”