GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that mysterious pediatric jaundice (hepatitis) has spread to 11 countries and infected 170 children in the past few weeks, killing at least one child.
Let's say that so far we are aware of five types of hepatitis (jaundice) which are called A, B, C, D and E respectively.
However, Mira Chand, director of the Health Security Agency in the UK, says the new virus that causes jaundice in children is different from the five types.
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The worst outbreaks of the mysterious hepatitis have occurred in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where a total of 119 children have been infected so far.
In addition, 13 children in Spain, 12 in Israel, 9 in the United States, 6 in Denmark, 4 in the Netherlands, 4 in Italy, 2 in Norway, 2 in France, 1 in Romania, and 1 in Belgium have been affected by this mysterious jaundice. Are
All of these figures are provided and verified by the World Health Organization, but it is possible that the actual number of infected children is much higher.
According to Dr Myra, the first five cases of new hepatitis (children) were reported from Scotland by March 31, which was not immediately noticed.
However, over the next two weeks, the new hepatitis virus infected 114 children in the UK alone, raising concerns.
The new hepatitis virus is affecting children from birth to 16 years of age, but the vast majority of them are children 10 years of age or younger.
All of these children had symptoms such as jaundice, cholera, vomiting / nausea, and severe abdominal pain before severe hepatitis; In 10% of children, the hepatitis attack was so severe that they had to undergo a partial liver transplant.
What is this new hepatitis virus and how is it different from other hepatitis viruses? Experts currently speculate that the cause of the new disease is an "adenovirus", as similar viruses cause a variety of liver diseases, including hepatitis in newborns and young children.
However, until the new hepatitis virus is genetically identified, it is too early to say.