City doctors have been remarking about the sudden spurt in cases of hepatitis A. With the rains setting in, cases of food poisoning and diarrhoea are on the rise; with it, there are complaints that also relate to the functioning of the liver. Hepatitis
A is a food- and water-borne infection. Doctors said that it would be reasonable to anticipate more cases of hepatitis A in the days to come.
Hepatitis is a condition that refers to inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis A refers to infection caused by the hepatitis A virus; this is usually completely curable, and leaves no lasting effects. Children are most prone to fall prey to the virus.
“Recently, a 10-month-old boy from Rajajinagar was brought to me with complaints of incessant crying and aversion to food. Blood tests proved that his liver had been affected. The baby had a liver failure, and went into a hepatic coma. He had to be in hospital for two weeks. He is now recovering and doing well,” said Dr Preethi Galagali, consultant pediatrician, Radha Ortho and Pediatric Clinic.
Dr Galagali said that cases of liver infection are on the rise. Over the past two weeks, she has been receiving at least two fresh cases each day, of children who had been infected. “Detecting hepatitis A in children is tricky. Most people hesitate to undergo the blood test to confirm hepatitis A as it costs around Rs400 to Rs600. Moreover, jaundice, which is a common manifestation of hepatitis A, is not seen in many pediatric patients below five years of age,” said Dr Galagali.
Clarifying that proneness to infection depends on the state of the immune system, Dr Laurence Peter, gastroenterologist, Wockhardt Hospital said, “It is not necessary that all the people who get exposed to the virus get clinical jaundice. By the time a person attains adulthood, he is most likely to get exposed to the hepatitis A virus. And most people develop antibodies. Thus, it is usually the children, who have not enough immunity to the virus, who develop the disease.”
Cases of hepatitis A are most common among children between 10 to 18 years of age; adults who frequently eat food cooked in less than hygienic ways also expose themselves to risk of contracting the infection.
