Second case of hepatitis in rats in a human being reported in Hong Kong

There is a human version of hepatitis E, contracted mainly by drinking contaminated water or eating undercooked meat. Scientists had previously assumed that the rat version, caused by another virus, could not infect humans. This hypothesis was thrown on the head after detection of the disease in a 56-year-old Hong Kong man recovering from a transplant. Experts were not able to determine the source of the disease, but rats were considered the probable cause.

As a result of the first case, a medical team from the University of Hong Kong said the incident should serve as an "alarm bell" to local authorities for them to improve the situation. 39 environmental health in Hong Kong and do something against the explosion of the rat population. . "We do not know if, in the future, the hepatitis E virus in rats will cause a serious outbreak in Hong Kong," they warned. "We have to watch this problem closely."

Siddharth Sridhar, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said the second case now proved that the rat-specific variant of hepatitis E could be transmitted to the body. man, and that the first case was not an anomaly, the SCMP reports.

In terms of common denominators, both cases involved people living in Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin district. And in fact, these two patients would live only 3 miles (3.8 km) apart, but there is no evidence to connect the couple in any way.

Another similarity – and this is an important one – is that the immune system of both patients is compromised. In the case of the 56-year-old man, he was recovering from a liver transplant, a procedure deemed not related to the disease. In the case of the 70-year-old woman, she was struggling with an underlying health problem that required her admission to the hospital, according to the SCMP. Since then, she has recovered, but later analyzes of her blood samples have revealed traces of the rat hepatitis virus.

With respect to rodent exposure, the woman stated that she had not knowingly been in contact with rats or their excrement nor saw any signs of rats at her home. But "not seeing did not mean there was no contact," said Sridhar, according to the SCMP, and that it is "possible for rodent feces to end up in the food that the patient has Ate".

Another possibility, although improbable, is the transmission of the virus between humans. Chinese health authorities do not exclude it, reports the SCMP.

As the investigation continues and medical experts are trying to understand the effects of hepatitis E in rats on human health, the Chinese authorities are asking the public to remain calm. Sridhar told the newspaper that it was not necessary to panic because this second reported case occurred last year.

Indeed, the panic may not be justified, but two cases where something that was supposed to be impossible in two years is, to say the least, worrying.