Enterovirus Ruled Out For Hamilton Preschooler

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Authorities have determined that a second child who attended a New Jersey preschool where a child died of enterovirus D68 did not have the respiratory illness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found no traces in the boy.

EXTRA: Enterovirus D68: What Every Parent Should Know

Enterovirus was blamed for the death of 4-year-old Eli Waller last month.

It's not clear how the Yardville Elementary School preschooler contracted the virus. He was sickened at home, but the school was sanitized as a precaution.

State health officials say there have been 18 confirmed cases in New Jersey, all involving children.

In the other feared case of enterovirus at Yardville, Tabatha Vassey told CBS 2 earlier this month that her son had been sick for weeks. He had been hospitalized and released after coming down with flu-like symptoms.

"It was scary," Vassey said. "I hate seeing my son sick, and I was trying to figure out — dear God, how can I take this from him and let me deal with it myself?"

She said her son, whose name will not be released, got sick at his father's house.

"(I) get a call on Sunday morning saying: 'He's having trouble breathing. We need to go to the ER, like now. He's wheezing really badly. It sounds like a freight train,'" Vassey said.

Symptoms of enterovirus D68 include coughing, runny nose, sneezing and more. They are generally considered to be similar to flu.

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