“Mysterious” hepatitis is spreading in more and more countries. Scientists are conducting research to determine if there is a link between this mysterious disease and coronavirus.
“Mysterious” hepatitis, new details about the unknown disease
Dr. Marius Geantă, president of the Center for Innovation in Medicine, points out that 10 percent of patients diagnosed with this type of hepatitis need a liver transplant.
“What attracts the most attention is this 10% of cases that need a liver transplant. Which obviously shows us that in addition to the causative agents that can be pathogenic, there may be a virus or a combination of these. There is also the other component, the way the body reacts to something that is not its own, in this case to a pathogen or a toxic substance “, the doctor explained, according to ziare.com.
Scientists have begun research to determine if there is a link between the occurrence of the mysterious disease and coronavirus.
“The analyzes used are very detailed on both adenovirus and SARS-Cov-2, on the one hand, including genomic analysis, ie the viral structure and transcriptome-type analysis, ie those relating to other components of the genetic material. .
There are in-depth tests that are done especially in cases that need a liver transplant and here are, in addition to the analysis of the genome and the human transcriptome this time, there are also tests that show the type of reaction in the immune system.
It is quite likely that the massive destruction of the liver that needs transplantation is not caused directly by the virus, by the agent that produces hepatitis but, as we have seen in COVID cases, the effect of an exaggeratedly abnormal immune reaction. In the case of COVID-19, there was talk of that cytokine storm.
It is important and probably that from these analyzes we will better understand the risk profile for this type of hepatitis due to an unknown cause, a risk that belongs to us, to people, to children in this case.
Why is this important? Because we need to find a way to prevent it as effectively as possible, and in order to do that, we need to understand the causative agent as well as possible, but also who the people at risk are. Just as we were talking about the severe forms of COVID-19, we are now talking about the severe forms of this hepatitis of unknown origin. These analyzes take some time and I think it is a bit early to have these results, but if we think about what is happening now, things are going in this direction “, the specialist also explained.
The doctor also said that research is currently being done to identify individual risk factors and factors that determine or trigger the disease.
“What we need to keep in mind is that we are talking about a diagnosis of exclusion. The other five viral causes that can cause hepatitis must be ruled out, autoimmune hepatitis must be ruled out, and possible toxic causes, such as medicines, must be ruled out.
One relevant thing is that the clinical picture is not much different in this hepatitis compared to the others. For this reason, the children presented to the hospital with symptoms encountered in all types of hepatitis and for this reason it is important that the other causes are excluded first “, the specialist added.
Liver transplantation in children is done with a compatible part of the parent’s liver
According to the doctor, children who need a liver transplant could receive a liver from one of their parents.
“The good part, if we call it that, is that if you need a liver transplant in your baby, you only need a part of the parent’s liver that is largely compatible.
There is no need to transfer another liver from another child. And from this point of view we can say that we are a little better than in the case of liver transplantation in adults “, the president of the Center for Innovation in Medicine also specified.
How to prevent unknown hepatitis
“If we talk about prevention, the means are the same for all types of hepatitis and we are talking about keeping hands clean, washing fruits, vegetables eaten fresh.
These are valid for hepatitis A and hepatitis D, and for hepatitis B, C, and E, the main routes of transmission are for E and D: the sexual route, C is generally transmitted by transfusions, by medical or non-medical instruments infected with in a person suffering from this type of hepatitis, and this instrument has not been sterilized. Such a pathway exists for hepatitis B as well as for D “, the doctor also explained.
There is already a vaccine for hepatitis due to the causes we know, and Romania has a high vaccination rate.
“There is a vaccine for hepatitis B that is given from the first day of life. The good news is that in Romania, approximately 93% of newborns, in 2019, received the first dose of hepatitis B vaccine on the first day of life.
Three doses of vaccine are given. The second dose is given at one month, the third dose is given at the age of six months. In our country, hepatitis B vaccination started somewhere in the 90’s and Romania was among the first countries to introduce this vaccine in the mandatory vaccination schedule. There have been two years, 2017-2018, when vaccination with the first dose has been slightly lower, but things have improved.
There is also a vaccine against hepatitis A. It can be given with one of the doses of hepatitis B vaccine. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but there is a very effective treatment that treats 98% of the cases and exist only if the person has previously been infected with hepatitis B, those who are vaccinated against hepatitis B are also protected from D.
Hepatitis E cases are rare, they occur in certain regions of the globe but there is also a vaccine for this type of hepatitis “, explained Dr. Marius Geantă.
Approximately 200 cases of mysterious hepatitis have been reported worldwide.
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