Chennai: In most cases, liver failure among children occurs due to infection, said Dr Vasanth Kumar, Apollo Children’s Hospital Chennai.
Recently, a three-year-old boy was saved from liver failure without transplanting and Dr Vasanth was part of the team.
Speaking to News Today, he highlights about the reasons for liver failure among children and how to prevent them.
* Common types
Liver failure occurs due to dengue, malaria, typhoid and jaundice and they severely affect the liver. Then there are other cases due to metabolic problems. This happens due to carbohydrate metabolism, said Dr Vasanth.
There is another thing called Wilson’s disease which is a case of copper metabolism. This occurs in grown up children and not toddlers, he said.
* Symptoms
According to Dr Vasanth, children suffer with fever. It may appear as a normal fever. But it is better to check with a doctor and not to just self medicate. Most important symptom is jaundice but not all cases show this. Also vomiting is a key symptom to note. If a child suffers severe vomiting and fever, it is better to get checked immediately, he said.
* Avoid self-medication
Dr Vasanth spoke about the mistakes parents make by self medicating their kids. “It is wrong. In many cases we have seen how parents give the wrong dosage of paracetamol to their children which is really dangerous,” he said.
* Cases of negligence
Dr Vasanth also spoke of cases were liver failure occurs due to negligence. “Now lets assume that for a 100 mg paracetamol, five drops has been prescribed for dosage but some parents unknowingly give 5 ml more which is dangerous,” he explained.
“Also, a child’s caretaker may misinterpret and give wrong dosage. Parents need to be careful. Also, many doctors feel that paracetamol drops shouldn’t be made available for children at all,” he said.
* Vaccinate
Dr Vasanth informed that the best way to prevent liver failure or any major organ failure among children is vaccination. As they are caused by hepatitis viruses, vaccination is the best way to prevent. They drastically reduce the chances of organ failure, he said.