Cuba is preparing its strategy to face an eventual arrival in the country of acute childhood hepatitis of unknown origin already present in a group of nations, revealed this Monday the director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) from Cuba, Dr. Francisco Duran.
The director confirmed this Monday that no cases of the disease have yet been reported on the island, but explained that a surveillance plan has already been developed to know how to proceed if a child with symptoms of the disease is notified, according to an office from the agency Latin Press (PL).
In his traditional television appearance, Durán specified that he works in the same way as he did in January 2020 in the face of the threat of the COVID-19when standards were developed for the prevention and control of the then new disease.
In addition, he recommended maintaining the use of the nasobuco or mask, since in a percentage of the cases studied of childhood hepatitis in the world, the presence of an adenovirus was found, which is a pathogen transmitted by the respiratory tract, the information refers.
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Remember PL that last April 5 United Kingdom reported the first 10 cases of acute childhood hepatitis of unknown origin and a month later the condition was already present in 20 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Given the expansion of the disease, the agency launched an epidemiological alert and recognized that a possible association between cases of severe acute hepatitis in the pediatric population and adenovirus infection is currently being investigated.
Of the 169 reported cases of this disease up to April 29, 85 were tested for the identification of this pathogen, of which 74 were positive and adenovirus type 41 was found in 18, reported Durán, quoted by PL.
The expert also referred that the afflicted are minors between one month and 16 years of age, whose clinical evolution is variable. 10% of all patients have needed a liver transplant, limits the publication.
The clinical manifestations of the identified cases correspond to acute hepatitis with elevated transaminases. Most of them presented jaundice, in addition to gastrointestinal signs and symptoms (abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting), and no fever was manifested, Durán pointed out.
The specialist remarked that infection by hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses was not identified in any of the diagnosed patients.
