Another Pandemic | Rat Hepatitis Discovered in Humans For The First Time

There is an alarming situation in Hong Kong and the situation is worsened because there is a potential threat of a pandemic again. Because, for the first time in history, a rat hepatitis E has been discovered in a human.   According to Hong Kong Researchers, the disease has been found in an old man who is 56 years old. They said that they have witnessed very rare cases and this disease is not previously known by them. They doubt that like many other viruses and plagues that were associated with rats and mice, this might be spread from rats to humans. 

So, Is it going to be worse than the COVID-19 pandemic?

According to Dr. Siddharth Sridhar who is a famous Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong “Previous laboratory experiments have found that rat hepatitis E virus cannot be transmitted to monkeys, and human hepatitis A virus cannot be transmitted to rats,”. He explained that the monkey’s diseases can easily be transmitted to humans because they are very close to us. He further said in a news conference that this news of spreading Rat hepatitis to humans can be underestimated. The man was admitted to the hospital in case of liver transplantation. 

He had a severe chronic infection with Hepatitis B. He has several signs of abnormal liver because his liver was not functioning well. But Sridhar said that there was no obvious cause of his disease. They examined the patient and after all the investigation they found that the immune system is the main cause of Hepatitis E which has become the cause of major cause of viral hepatitis in humans. But when the tests came they were negative.

After the diagnosis, the man’s Doctors found that the man’s disease revealed similarities with the rat’s. Then they started to treat the patient with antivirals. Media reports show that the patient is now safe from severe disease. Sridhar Said ” We cannot detect the patient of this stage in any clinical specimen. A team of professionals in Hong Kong is trying to identify how the disease spreads from rats to humans. And they are claiming that the man got the disease from his nearby rubbish chute. 

Sridhar further said that the Rat Hepatitis E Virus now has been included in the list of infections as an important pathogen that can be transmitted to humans from rats. Now, it’s worth noting whether this disease can be curable and whether can it spread to humans like the coronavirus. Doctors and other medical professionals are working and further progress with time will tell the truth. Martin Hibberd who is a renowned professor in emerging infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said it is “very unlikely” That the virus is transmitted to humans. He was not involved in this case.