The Silent Crises We Didn’t See Coming
Do you recall the time, when COVID-19 surprised the world? It turned out that it was only the warm up. At present, there are two so-called silent health threats sneaking into hospitals and homes, and that is unexplained hepatitis in children and Candida auris, a deadly drug-resistant fungus. They do not feature on the headlines like a new virus, yet they are as threatening.
What’s scarier? Even now, we do not exhaustively know why they are being spread. Is it global warming? Immunological changes after the pandemic? Or something quite different? And we should look at the reality of the matter–since it may be a fatal error to disregard these epidemics.
Unexplained Hepatitis in Kids: A Medical Detective Story
At the beginning of 2022, doctors in the U.S. and Europe witnessed something strange, normally healthy children were developing liver inflammation, and some as young as six months old were ending up in intensive care units. No associations with common viruses of hepatitis (A, B, C); moreover, a lack of environmental causative inducements. Suddenly acute, liver failure.
The WHO reported 1,296 probable cases in 37 countries as of the mid of 2023. There are 22 children who had to undergo liver transplants with 10 out of them dying. The culprit in chief? Adenovirus-41 which is normally a mild cold agent. However, there is the twist:
- Adenovirus was proven in 70 percent of the cases but severe damage of the liver was never heard before.
- No usual food, poison, or geographical connection cases were found in the U.K, the U.S., in Japan and Argentina.
- The theory on the post-COVID dysfunction of the immune system is a hot idea, did the lockdowns make kids vulnerable?
Real-World Case: A 3 year old in Scotland developed acute liver failure in 48 hours, that is, after being perfectly healthy. Physicians raced to obtain the etiology-nil. She survived after a few weeks of passing through intensive care, yet her parents have not received any answers yet.
Candida Auris: The Superbug No One’s Talking About
Meanwhile, As the world was busy caring about viruses, a fungus was slowly becoming a nightmare. The first ever discovered in 2009, Candida auris (C. auris) now has the reputation of being a CDC Urgent Threat killer, claiming the lives of up to 60 percent of affected patients. As compared to normal yeast infections this:
- Is resistant to various antifungal medication – there are untreatable strains.
- Spreads by surface, via bedding even through air vents in the hospital.
- Considered to survive well in warmer regions, which can imply that climate change is contributing to its increase.
2023 Outbreak (Nevada, USA): One neonatal critical care unit identified 12 cases of infected infants and three of them passed away. The kicker? However, the fungus could not be killed by using standard disinfectants.
“C. auris will not only make the already weak people sick, it is encroaching on healthy individuals as well. We are in a game of catch-up and we are on the winning side.” — Dr. Tom Chiller – CDC Mycotic Diseases Branch
Are These Outbreaks Connected?
One would think that pediatric hepatitis and C. auris have no connection at all. But look behind it, and darkly similar combinations are found:
- They both take advantage of compromised immunity, namely by the lockdowns, by overuse of antibiotics, or by stress on the environment.
- Both are silent spreaders- months went by before the occurrence of hepatitis was noticed; C. auris does not lead to any symptoms regarding skin colonization.
- They are both battling against conventional confinement, there are no vaccines, no satisfactory therapies, only the fire brigade.
Expert Insight:
We live in a period when the pathogens are outwitting us at a greater pace than we can respond. The next pandemic may not be a virus, it can be a fungus or a unknown liver disease.” Dr. Syra Madad, Harvard Belfer Center Epidemiologist
What’s Being Done (And Why It’s Not Enough)
Health agencies are madly trying, yet there are gaps on the systemic level:
- Testing delays -laboratories are not equipped against new pathogens.
- Funding bias.-90% of the research on outbreaks is on the viruses and not on fungi or the unknown.
- Shortcomings of Global Surveillance-Weak data-sharing enables the passage of outbreaks many months.
Case in Point: The U.K. became the first to signal pediatric hepatitis–because one acute physician did. The vigilance is not there in most countries.
The Bottom Line: We’re Not Ready
History is repeated. People had been ignoring experts who had warned of coronaviruses before COVID, decades before. And the identical errors are occurring with:
- Incidental hepatitis (never determined cause) (mystery hepatitis).
- C. auris (on the loose in hospitals).
- Additional menacing potentialities (e.g. Marburg virus, Alaskapox).
Final Thought:
“The post-pandemic next global health crisis is not going to be a bang. It will creep in unnoticed, when we are concerned with the threats of yesterday. But will we wake up in time?“
Whats Your Take?
- Is there a reason as to why governments should invest in research of unknown pathogens before it becomes a tragedy?
- What will be the manner in which we can develop the balance between virus vigilance and other silent killers?
OutbreakAlert is more than a hashtag- it is the wake up call. Share this. Discuss it. As reproach it is so because the next outbreak will not give us the luxury of time to get prepared.