Nicaraguan epidemiologist Leonel Argüello took up the alert made by the World Health Organization (WHO) about the appearance of hepatitis of unknown origin in children and adolescents.
He indicated that so far 228 probable cases of the disease have been reported in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Of that number, 17 have required liver transplantation. “If they did not do this transplant they would have died,” said the specialist.
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Argüello indicated that this problem in minors was not seen with this current frequency and that the cause of this hepatitis is not known. “Anyone under the age of 16 who has acute hepatitis and cannot be diagnosed as A, B, C, D or E and has very elevated liver tests, then we can suspect a probable case of unknown origin.”
He also said that it was ruled out that this hepatitis in childhood and preadolescence is related to the vaccine against the COVID-19. “They are investigating what may be causing this type of disease,” said the doctor.
Hepatitis are a group of diseases characterized by inflammation of the liver. If this is of recent appearance it is called acute hepatitis, and processes that last more than six months are called chronic hepatitis.
Given this, Argüello recalled that the liver is the second largest organ in the human body that allows the generation of a series of substances that the body requires in order to function. “It is our factory for a series of substances, but at the same time it is the place where we detoxify ourselves,” he explained.
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“It must be clear that this organ that is below the ribs and that occupies more than half of the space of the abdomen can be affected by different diseases. When it becomes inflamed we know it as hepatitis”, added the doctor.
He also explained that hepatitis could be caused by viruses “and there are hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses. In addition to this, hepatitis can be caused by toxic substances, fundamentally medications, or by other types of viruses.”
Ways of hepatitis
The expert stressed that it must be clear that most hepatitis is caused by the hepatitis A virus “and obviously each hepatitis virus has a different mechanism of transmission.”
“Hepatitis “A” and hepatitis “E” are transmitted through the digestive tract, which means that there is fecal oral contamination, that is, water that is not safe, that may be contaminated with feces from a person who had hepatitis or that is I touch some place where that person was.
«Then there are hepatitis B, C and D. Hepatitis “D” along with “C”, is transmitted through sexual intercourse, injections shared by people; it can be transmitted from mother to child, or shared razors,” argued Argüello.
Among the symptoms produced by hepatitis are tiredness, flu; There may be vomiting, there may be a fever, but what stands out the most —according to the epidemiologist— is the yellowish color of the skin and the whites of the eyes turn yellow. “There may be pain in the upper right part of the stomach or abdomen and urine is dark in color, similar to that of Coca-Cola, stools may be light in color and appetite is lost.”
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He insisted that constant hand washing with water and wheal for more than 40 seconds will prevent this disease; In addition to consuming safe water, avoid defecating in the open.
In the case of Nicaragua, Leonel Argüello recommended that doctors must be constantly vigilant and that the Ministry of Health must carry out the corresponding tests and notify them to “contribute to the investigation of this new event. It is essential to continue with prevention measures (social distancing, use of masks) », he concluded.
