A 6-year-old boy and a 15-month-old baby have died during liver transplant operations
The Ministry of Health has notified this Thursday the first two deaths in Spain due to hepatitis of unknown origin in children. According to the latest report on this viral disease, so far 46 cases have been detected in the country Y at least three of these have had to undergo a liver transplant. The two victims of this disease, as stated in the report, are a 6-year-old boy and a 15-month-old baby who have died after the operation.
The 6 year old boy started symptoms on July 2nd and on the 18th he was transferred to a hospital in Madrid for a transplant in serious condition with cerebral edema. The transplant was performed on July 29 and he died 24 hours after being transplanted. The other deceased is a 15 month old baby resident in Andalusia who entered at the end of June with acute gastroenteritis critically ill with severe encephalopathy and coagulopathy. The case required an urgent liver transplant and also died within the next 24 hours.
Just a few days ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern for him outbreak of this disease of unknown origin and assured that it is working “side by side” with the scientific community and the health authorities of the affected countries to understand the cause of the infection and seek treatments for infected children.
Cases in Spain
Spain has already detected 46 cases of this hepatitis of unknown origin. Those affected are in ages between 0 and 16 years. Five of the detected cases are under 1 year oldand 3 of them, with onset of symptoms at the end of June, are two neonates aged 3 and 5 days (admitted to the ICU) and a 48-day-old child in whom enterovirus has been detected, in one of them also adenovirus and in another SARS-CoV-2. More than 60% percent of the cases detected to date are in girlsaccording to the latest data from the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network led by the Ministry of Health.
This hepatitis has already been traced in 10 autonomous communities. The analyzes suggest that there is no epidemiological relationship between them. The region with the most cases detected is Madrid, with 15, followed by Catalonia (9), Galicia (5) and the Balearic Islands (4). Cases have also been traced in Andalusia (3), Aragón (1), Canarias (1), Castilla y León (2), Castilla-La Mancha (3) and Murcia (3). Most of the detections occurred between March 7 and May 1although it has been possible to track cases that started symptoms from January 2 and July 2.
The symptoms of the disease
Among the cases for which information on symptoms is available, the most frequently reported have been malaise (26 cases; 65%), vomiting (26 cases; 59%), fever (23 cases; 58%) and abdominal pain (21 cases; 50%). Jaundice was reported in 20 cases (50%), diarrhea in 12 cases (29%), respiratory symptoms in 10 cases (25%), and rash in 9 cases (23%).
Microbiological and metagenomic research has been carried out at the National Microbiology Center (CNM) of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII). From these analyses, it was found 7 positive cases for herpes virus and 10 of the 21 analyzed (47.6%) have been positive for adenovirus, so it continues to be the main suspect behind these cases.
There is no noticeable rise
According to the analyzes carried out to date, Health ensures that “so far, the number of cases of hepatitis of unknown cause in children and transplants observed in this alert are within those expected according to estimates made with data from previous years.
The Spanish health authorities assure that neither has has observed “an increase in cases of hepatitis of unknown origin in children aged 0 to 16 years in the period from January to May 2022 compared to the same period of the previous five years, nor in the disaggregation of codes and ages”.
“No higher incidence of fulminant hepatitis in pediatric age requiring liver transplantation was detected between January and July 2022 at the national level, compared to the estimated average for the same period between 2012 and 2021,” summarizes the Ministry.
overall incidence
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On an international leveluntil July 28, 507 cases have been reported in Europe in 21 countries, 273 in the United Kingdom, Austria (6), Belgium (14), Bulgaria (1), Cyprus (2), Denmark (8), France (9 ), Greece (12), Ireland (24), Israel (5), Italy (36), Latvia (1), Luxembourg (1), the Netherlands (15), Norway (6), Poland (15), Portugal ( 20), Moldova (1), Serbia (1) and Sweden (12).
Out of Europe Cases have been detected especially in the Americas (487 cases), with the majority of cases in the United States (354 cases), followed by the Western Pacific region (77 cases), Southeast Asia (23 cases), and the Eastern Mediterranean (2 cases). ).