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Amid the barrage of chilling news about Ebola and its toll, another virus attracted relatively little attention recently as it coughed and sneezed its way into Canadian lives.

Enterovirus D68, however, is finally getting its moment in the spotlight. Being likened to polio will do that.

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Public health officials had warned doctors earlier this fall to be on the lookout for EV-D68, a cold-like bug that was showing up in unusual numbers and causing serious respiratory complications for a small minority of young patients, some of whom have wound up on breathing machines.

Then in the past few days, hospitals began reporting an even more alarming symptom. A number of patients, some but not all of whom have actually tested positive for the virus, were experiencing polio-like paralysis or weakness in one of their limbs.

Hospitals in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver have all reported such cases in the past two to three days.