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Even though there is no treatment for enteroviruses, they still need to be fought off with a strong immune response so they do not thrive in the soft muscle and tissue of the body.
If patients cannot arrest these viruses efficiently during the acute phase, they can spread to other organs of the body, increasing the chances of a chronic infection.
Rest is critical for the body to fight EV infections so certain levels of exercise can aggravate them.
Steroids or antibiotics can worsen chronic viral infections like EV because they suppress the immune system.
Some EV infections can spread to the heart and cause myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy, which are both life-threatening chronic diseases. The only treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy is a heart transplant.
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| Step 1:
An MD orders an antibody test (blood) for both coxsackie and echoviruses. LabCorp in Salt Lake City Utah can reliably perform test as well as Viropharma. Any antibody value>80 is elevated. Chronically elevated antibodies can implicate a chronic EV infection and a four-fold rise in antibody titers may also provide evidence of recent infection.
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| Step 2:
Patients can confirm a chronic EV infection by testing tissue taken through endoscopy or colonoscopy. A gastroenterologist can send the stomach tissue to an immunochemistry laboratory. Through immunological viral staining, they can test for the presence of EV RNA and protein.
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