Two-year-old girl dies while under investigation for acute hepatitis

The two-year-old girl, who was under investigation as the first possible case of acute hepatitis in Puerto Rico died in hospital as confirmed by her family on Monday, May, 16.

The two-year-old girl was in the Auxilio Mutuo hospital, Puerto Rico, and had recently received a liver transplant, while undergoing investigation for acute hepatitis, but her body rejected it, as reported by Superchannel12.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health had reported that the child was under investigation by its Surveillance System, established in early May, and that she was receiving medical care.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health notified the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for meeting the definition of a “person under investigation for acute hepatitis,” which is a person under the age of 10 with elevated liver enzymes.

“It is important to have the cooperation of all health providers to be able to gather the necessary information that will allow us to immediately identify a suspected case,” stated local health chief Carlos Mellado at the time.

If the cause of the young girl’s death is classified as acute hepatitis it would be the first child death from acute hepatitis in Puerto Rico since the mysterious global outbreak began earlier this year.

The news comes just a week after the World Health Organisation stated that 348 cases of acute hepatitis in children had been reported globally across 20 countries as of Tuesday, May, 10.