Get to know the Mysterious Hepatitis Disease That Affects Children

The Beginning of Mysterious Hepatitis Cases

The first case of Mysterious Hepatitis was discovered on 5 April 2022 in the United Kingdom. On April 15, 2022 WHO declared Mysterious Hepatitis as an Extraordinary Event (KLB). Then on April 16-30, suspected cases of acute hepatitis in children were found in Indonesia. Three Indonesian children died of suspected acute hepatitis of unknown cause. This Mysterious Hepatitis Disease attacks children aged one month to 16 years and most commonly attacks under 10 years of age.

Mysterious Hepatitis Classification

To facilitate mitigation, tracking, and evaluation, the Ministry of Health compiled a case definition, so that every Health Facility that found a possible Mysterious Acute Hepatitis case could explain it clearly. Quoted from the website of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office, the classification of Mysterious Hepatitis is divided into six categories as follows;

• Confirmed: Not yet available at this time, because it is not clear what causes Acute Hepatitis to arise.
• Suspect : Possible exposure to Acute Hepatitis (but not one of Hepatitis A-E). then the amount of SGOT or SGPT > 100 IU/L. The suspect is <16 years old and is included in the case criteria set, namely as of October 1, 2021 until now.
• Probable: Possible exposure to Acute Hepatitis (but not one of Hepatitis A-E). the number of SGOT or SGPT > 500IU/L, aged < 16 years, and included in the established case criteria, namely as of October 1, 2021 until now.
• Epi-Linked : A person who is likely to be exposed to Acute Hepatitis (but not one of Hepatitis A-E) of any age who is a close contact of a probable case since October 1, 2021.
• Pending Classification: That is, the suspect falls into the probable criteria with the amount of SGOT or SGPT > 500 IU/L, but is still waiting for serology results from Hepatitis A, B, C, E.
• Discarded: If one of the Serology results for Hepatitis A, B, C, E turns out to be positive or there is another etiology.

Mysterious Hepatitis Causes

Possible causes according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA):

1.Medicine

2. Exposure to toxins or environmental factors

3.New adenovirus variant

4.Increased susceptibility to normal adenovirus infection due to lockdown

5. A new variant that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2)

• Signs and Symptoms of Mysterious Hepatitis
• Dark urine
• Pale or gray stools
• Itchy skin
• Jaundice or yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes
• Muscle and joint pain
• High fever
• Nausea
• Feeling tired all the time
• Loss of appetite
• Stomach pain
• Increased liver enzymes (SGOT/SGPT), up to 500 u/L

How to Prevent Mysterious Hepatitis

Because hepatitis is mysterious, the symptoms attack the gastrointestinal tract so that for prevention we can do easy things, including:

1.Washing hands with soap

2. Consume clean and cooked food

3. You should not change eating utensils with other people

4. Avoid contact with patients / sufferers who experience symptoms of acute hepatitis

5. Implementing Covid-19 prokes discipline: wearing masks, maintaining distance, washing hands

 

If symptoms of Mysterious Hepatitis appear, immediately take them to the nearest health facility for further examination of liver function such as SGOT and SGPT.