COVID 19: Global pandemic recorded more than 4 million cases
In between a Global pandemic- Coronavirus, Hongkong has whacked with new cases of transmission. Now, the cases are being recorded not due to COVID transmission, but from a new strain of the Hepatitis E virus. The virus usually infects rats but now sickening many people in Hongkong. There have been dozens of cases that have been reported by the state administration according to the news source.
Amid the mystery of the actual source of coronavirus, how the hepatitis E virus jumps to humans from rats, has also led to the mystery. The Hongkong reported the first case of rat HEV or rat hepatitis E virus in 2018.
According to the CNN report, since then 10 more people have reported positive for rat HEV. It’s possible that there could also be a carrier responsible for passing the virus from rats to people.
The scientist is not yet confirmed the source of infection. Recently, a 61-year-old man was hospitalized with similar symptoms. The man was experiencing abnormal liver function.
An important factor aggregating the problem as the man had not traveled anywhere and no rats or rat feces were found in the man’s home.
“What we know is the rats in Hong Kong carry the virus, and we test the humans and find the virus. But how exactly it jumps between them — whether the rats contaminate our food, or there’s another animal involved, we don’t know,” as Dr. Siddharth Sridhar, told CNN. He is currently a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong and among the researchers who first discovered it in the people.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ), Hepatitis E is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis E virus.
The symptoms of the contamination can include fever, vomiting, nausea, joint pain, and jaundice.
Furthermore, it is transmitted through water, might get contaminated from infected human feces. In some rare cases, the people can expose to the disease if animals like pigs, deer, and boar they eat are infected.
The symptoms of coronavirus are still taking new finishing every day from fever to body pain. Though no study claims conclusive facts, the rat HEV disease is also fetching new facts. Many people infected with this have experienced no symptoms or mild symptoms.
The cases emboldened the fact that people with a weak immune system are more prone to the disease. It can cause liver failure to the infected person. Some of the studies suggest that weak immunity may expose you to the risk of coronavirus.
A case of human contracting rat HEV occurred in Canada last year. The infected man had recently traveled to Africa. The extent of the disease has not been reported due to no testing by the doctors. Now doctors need to recognize the need for the testing amid COVID 19 pandemic specific for rat HEV in people.
Dr, Shridhar further added, “We need ongoing vigilance in the public to control this unusual infection. I really hope that public health authorities take the first step and look at how much their populations are actually being exposed to rat hepatitis E,”
