Worrying case of teen with hepatitis in Larissa

The girl's symptoms, fever and rash, appeared on Holy Wednesday and she was immediately taken to hospital.

According to information from onlarissa.gr, hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) has been found, but not some of its known forms (A, B, C).

Blood has already been sent for testing for adenovirus at the Medical School of Thessaloniki, while the incident has been reported to EODY.

The clinical picture is good.

Medical sources told onlarissa.gr that the 16-year-old is being treated as a "suspicious incident", as she meets some of the symptoms that have alarmed the global medical community, having been vaccinated by covid19 last January, vaccinated. However, liver indicators are not "quantitatively sufficient" to draw a direct conclusion.

Conclusion, which is expected to come out of the exams at the Medical School of Thessaloniki.

Zaoutis: The common adenovirus has been isolated in some children 

It is recalled that the president of national health service-EODY and Professor of Pediatrics, Theoklis Zaoutis, speaking on the subject to ANT1 on Tuesday afternoon, stressed that in some children the common adenovirus has been isolated, but as he pointed out, "it is still not clear if this is the virus or whether the factors that cause the outbreak are combined ".

The president of EODY has also pointed out that the country's hospitals are on standby, while pediatricians must be on alert.

Hepatitis symptoms

In the majority of cases the problem in children first appeared from the gastrointestinal tract, with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

Professor Athanasia Lourida explains what parents should focus on:

"The symptoms are abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea and the complication is hepatitis. Parents should be concerned and ask for a pediatric evaluation if they see their child have very dark urine, or the stools are discolored, ie have white stools. These are the criteria of hepatitis when it complicates in general. For any reason. "Dark urine and discolored stools", she notes.

The secondary symptom of jaundice, which appears with pallor in the eyes and skin of the affected child, is not very clear for someone who is not sufficiently trained to detect the "signs", the doctor emphasizes:

Jaundice is a sign that appears in the conjunctiva of the eye. In order for the rest of the skin to turn yellow, the jaundice must be very intense and the disease already very severe. Therefore it is not easy to appreciate this sign if one is not an expert. The points that the parent can easily assess on their own are urine and feces. Of course, if a child is vomiting and dehydrated, he may still have dark urine, and this does not mean that he necessarily has hepatitis," the expert explains.

When parents should seek medical help

The Professor of Pediatrics at "Agia Sofia" Pediatric Hospital advises parents to request a pediatric evaluation if - in addition to the usual gastroenteritis (because there are many viruses that cause gastroenteritis at this time with vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain) - notice "oddities" from the child's excretory system.

Ms. Lourida also clarifies that parents should contact their doctor and not EODY: “The pediatrician communicates with EODY, not the parents. And also, because these days are festive, if they do not find a pediatrician immediately, the child should go to the Emergency Hospital. Of course not with the slightest vomiting or diarrhea. Only if it has some worrying symptoms, which we mentioned earlier," she says.

The Professor also notes that if a child has gastrointestinal symptoms, it should be isolated:

"Generally when a child - or even an adult - has a virus, they should definitely be isolated. They should stay home until well. And that the hygiene rules are strictly observed ", emphasizes Mrs. Lourida.