This is a two-year-old boy living in the province of Panama Este, adjacent to Panama City.
Panamanian health authorities confirmed on Thursday the first case of acute hepatitis in a child under two years of age, who is “out of danger” following being admitted to a pediatric hospital.
“In light of this case, epidemiological surveillance has been intensified and a surveillance alert has already been sent to all health facilities, both from the Social Security Fund, the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and private hospitals,” said the national head of Epidemiology of the health portfolio, Lourdes Moreno.
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The Gorgas Memorial Institute, a public institution dedicated to medical research, confirmed this first case of hepatitis F40-41 in Panama, following studying it.
The child is two years old and lives in the province of Panama Este, adjacent to Panama City, according to the Minsa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert regarding this type of hepatitis on April 5, following it was detected in the United Kingdom in children under ten years of age with no previous illnesses.
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 patients varies from one-month-old infants to 16-year-old adolescents; most of them 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 said in its April 23 report that one-tenth of previously affected children had needed a liver transplant following contracting the new disease, which often causes abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting.
The health organisation recommended that member states identify, investigate and report any potential cases with the aim of gathering information and being able to trace the source of the disease.
The WHO theorized that the disease may be caused by an adenovirus, type F41, detected in dozens of these cases, a virus that is normally associated with the common cold and stomach viruses.
With information from Union Radio
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2024-07-09 01:05:08
