The health authorities of Panama confirmed this Thursday the first case of acute childhood hepatitis in a child under two years old, who is “out of danger” following being admitted to a pediatric hospital.
“In this case, epidemiological surveillance has been intensified and the surveillance alert has already been sent to all health facilities, both from the Social Security Fund, as well as from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and private hospital centers,” said the national head of Epidemiology of the health portfolio, Lourdes Moreno.
The Gorgas Memorial Institute, a public institution dedicated to medical research, confirmed this first case of hepatitis F40-41 in Panama, following studying it.
This is a two-year-old boy residing in the province of Panama This one, next to the City of Panama, as reported by the Government.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on this type of hepatitis on April 5, following it was detected in RUnited Kingdom in children under ten years of age without previous ailments.
There are 228 cases detected in twenty countries and at least four deaths, all minors, due to this acute pediatric hepatitis of unknown origin.
The age of the patients varies between one-month-old infants and 16-year-old adolescents, most of whom do not have fever or viruses associated with the different known types of hepatitis (A, B, C, D and E), according to the WHO.
The WHO indicated in its report of April 23 that one tenth of the kids Until then, those affected had needed a liver transplant following contracting this new disease, which usually causes abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting.
The health organization recommended that member states identify, investigate and report any potential cases with the intention of collecting information and being able to trace the source of the disease.
The WHO hypothesis suggests that the disease can be caused by a adenovirus, of type F41, detected in dozens of these cases. It is a virus that is normally associated with the common cold and stomach ailments.
Meanwhile, in Colombia, the National Institute of Health indicated that the country’s epidemiological surveillance is ready to detect any case of this hepatitis. In fact, they have already ruled out a first case that had been reported as suspicious.