According to a survey carried out by the CNN Agency updated this Tuesday (10), Brazil has 20 suspected cases of severe acute childhood hepatitis.
Data collected from state health departments show that there are seven cases under investigation in São Paulo, six in Rio de Janeiro, two in Espírito Santo, two in Minas Gerais, as well as in Paraná, and a single case in Santa Catarina.
The information, however, differs from the Ministry of Health. According to a note released on Monday (9), the ministry reported that there are 16 suspected cases, but did not send a list of the states in which the cases are located.
acute childhood hepatitis
On April 15, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an alert on cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children in United Kingdom.
Since then, there has been additional case reports continuous due to notifications in other countries such as Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Spain and the United States of America.
Hepatitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the liver.
There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D, and E. Although they all cause liver disease, they differ in important ways, including modes of transmission, severity of illness, geographic distribution, and prevention methods.
In most cases, viral hepatitis are silent diseases that do not show symptoms over the years. Usually, the disease is already in a more advanced stage when the signs appear.
The most common are fever, weakness, abdominal pain, nausea, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, dark urine, yellow eyes and skin (jaundice), and whitish stools.
Case monitoring in Brazil
In São Paulo, cases are investigated by the Center for Epidemiological Surveillance (CVE) of the State of São Paulo identified in the capital, in São José dos Campos and Fernandópolis.
In Rio, of the six suspected cases investigated by municipal surveillance with the support of state surveillance, three are residents of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (a 4-year-old child, an 8-year-old child and a 2-month-old baby).
In addition, there is suspicion of hepatitis in a three-year-old child from Niterói and a two-year-old child from Araruama. An 8-month-old baby, resident of Maricá, died and the investigation is also ongoing.
In MG, one case was notified by the municipality of Juiz de Fora and another by Belo Horizonte. Notifications are under investigation and follow-up. The main symptoms reported were abdominal pain and vomiting, accompanied by changes in liver enzymes.
In the south, Santa Catarina analyzes the case of a seven-year-old child who was admitted to the Pequeno Anjo Hospital in Itajaí on May 4, presenting with inflammation of the liver and symptoms such as jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. In the hospital, a laboratory test showed an increase in transaminases (liver enzymes).
And Paraná, through the state secretary of health, had three suspected cases under investigation, one of which has already been discarded. The notifications are in male children between 8 and 12 years old.
The Health Department of Espírito Santo said that it investigates two cases of hepatitis whose cause has not yet been defined in the state, but which at first does not have the same characteristics that are being described in other countries. Clarifies that patients are being monitored and stable.
Source: CNN Brasil
