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The Enterovirus D68 which affected hundreds of children across US, claimed its first victim on September 22.

According to a press release, 10-year old Emily Ortrando from Rhode Island contracted a staph infection associated with EV D 68 infection, a combination that health officials described as very rare but severe.

"We are all heartbroken to hear about the death of one of Rhode Island's children. Many of us will have EV-D68. Most of us will have very mild symptoms and all but very few will recover quickly and completely. The vast majority of children exposed to EV-D68 recover completely," Michael Fine, M.D., Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health said.

Ortando reportedly succumbed within a day of being brought to the hospital. "The child experienced shortness of breath and really by the time she got to the hospital, everything fell apart very quickly within 24 hours," Fine told CNN. It was also reported that EV-D68 is being linked to a mysterious neurological illness and paralysis caused in few children in Colorado, Boston and Michigan.

Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria can normally be treated with antibiotics but some strains resist treatment. EV-D 68 usually causes mild symptoms. This outbreak has however sent more children to intensive care than other outbreaks in the past.

A few children who died earlier this year had also tested positive for EV-D68. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is yet to ascertain what role the virus had played in the deaths.

"From mid-August to October 2, 2014, CDC or state public health laboratories have confirmed a total of 514 people in 43 states and the District of Columbia with respiratory illness caused by EV-D68. Almost all the confirmed cases this year of EV-D68 infection have been among children. Many of the children had asthma or a history of wheezing," CDC said on its website.