(KNX) — The World Health Organization has announced an outbreak of hepatitis among children in Europe and the United States, and a local infectious disease physician tells parents not to be overly worried.
One child has died amid the mysterious liver disease outbreak. Lurie Children’s Hospital is sharing some guidance for parents.
“You shouldn’t panic about this,” said Dr. Tina Tan, an attending physician at Lurie and professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
She said it’s a small amount of cases world wide. What’s different here is that usually hepatitis doesn’t develop in otherwise healthy children, Tan said.
She said world and federal health experts are “just being proactive in letting people know about this.”
Doctors now are trying to figure out if there is a connection to the adenovirus, which causes the common cold and in some cases severe symptoms like stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
Dr. Tan advises parents to be on lookout for increasingly severe symptoms, including jaundice, rather than go to the hospital right away.
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