With ten states and more than a thousand children being affected by an unidentified respiratory virus, there has never been a better time to schedule your kids for a checkup with Powell Pediatrics. Officials suspect that the virus may be a rare strain known as human enterovirus 68, which is related to the rhinovirus.

With the kids back at school, it is a normal time for illness to spread, especially among children, but as one pediatrician put it, “Viruses don’t tend to respect borders. It may only be in 10 states now, but it will go across the country, and if your state hasn’t already been affected, watch for it.”

The virus begins with sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose, much like a cold, but it is the intense wheezing that you need to watch for.

In order to keep your kids healthy, Powell Pediatrics recommends that you and your kids wash hands and avoid others who are sick and advises you to tell your children to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze.