Argentina detects eight cases of severe hepatitis of unknown origin in children
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The country's ministry of health has denied that it is an outbreak and reported that these are isolated and unconnected cases
Eight cases of severe hepatitis of an unknown origin have been detected in children in the Argentinian city of Santa Fe.
The country's ministry of health has denied that it is an outbreak and reported that these are isolated and unconnected cases.
The first case reported in Argentina was that of an 8-year-old boy at the Children’s Hospital in the city of Rosario.
According to Alejandro Costaguta, the head of the Liver and Transplant Unit Hepatic of the Children’s Sanatorium, “the patient was admitted on the night of April 4 at our service and the first studies are being done.''
After the detection of the cases, Argentina's health ministry has recommended that youngsters should have completed the schemes of the National Vaccination Calendar for each age group.
In a list of guidelines, issued light of the epidemiological alert, the national health ministry requested people to frequently wash their hands, avoid contact with sick people, cover their mouth and nose while coughing and sneezing and avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.
It comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 109 childhood cases of a mysterious form of hepatitis.
The global death toll of a fatal ailment puzzling doctors from the US to Asia surged after three children in Indonesia died from a mysterious liver disease.
Raising concerns of the disease's "unknown origin", the World Health Organization has said that this severe strain of acute hepatitis has been identified in nearly 230 children in 20 countries.
According to the UN agency, the symptoms afflicting the children include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal pain, before their livers showed signs of inflammation.
(With inputs from agencies)
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