13-year-old adolescent suspected of rare hepatitis is delicate in Children’s Hospital

A 13-year-old boy, whose case is under investigation as a suspect of Severe Acute Hepatitis of unknown cause, is very delicate in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the National Children’s Hospital, confirmed the director of that medical center, Olga Arguedas Arguedas. The prognosis is guarded, the pediatric immunologist told The nation.

This is one of the five cases that Costa Rica monitors, as reported by the Ministry of Health four days ago. They are two men and three women, residents of Heredia and San José. The three girls have already been discharged.

The 13-year-old minor was referred the week before to the National Children’s Hospital by the San Vicente de Paúl Hospital, in Heredia, as corresponds to the protocol for these cases, confirmed the director of that hospital, Priscilla Balmaceda. No new cases have arrived at the Hereditary hospital.

In all of them, they are waiting for tests that will determine if their illness was caused by the hepatitis D or E viruses.

Costa Rica does not perform these tests, so they must be sent abroad.

This type of hepatitis is rare in those over five years of age and even more so in those over seven, so more tests are carried out to determine if, in the case of this child under 13, it is this disease or if the hepatitis has other origin.

Since the beginning of April, science and world health authorities have been investigating a hepatitis of unknown origin in childrenMost of them under six years old. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO), from May 15, counts 429 cases in 22 countries and another 40 under investigation.

[ Preguntas y respuestas sobre la hepatitis de origen desconocido en niños ]

Six deaths have been reported, three of them in Indonesia. Another 26 have required liver transplantation. 17% of minors have required intensive care. The ages of those affected range between 6 months and 16 years, but the vast majority are between 2 and 5 years.

It is considered to be of unknown origin because the cause has not yet been determined. None of the cases identified so far correspond to one of the five hepatitis viruses; There are also no common causes that show that all children had an infection with another virus or bacteria or that all have been exposed to the same food or substance that has intoxicated them.

For several years, all cases of hepatitis, for whatever reason, have been declared mandatory by the Ministry of Health and by the Epidemiological Surveillance sub-area of ​​the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), so this makes it more Easy early detection and care.

For this international alert, the Ministry of Health formed an inter-institutional team that is tracking event behavior.

How to detect and prevent the disease?

Families should be vigilant if their children have:

• nausea
• vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Some have weakness and drowsiness
• In some cases, there is a darker color in the urine.
• Almost none have presented fever.

If these symptoms persist for more than two days, it is better to see a doctor.

Viral hepatitis is transmitted mainly by the hands, so it is important not only to be aware of the symptoms, but also to apply these other measures:

• Rigorous hand washing.
• Washing food before cooking.
• If the cause was a respiratory virus, the measures against covid-19 also work.

The journalist Irene Rodríguez collaborated.

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