An MSF staff administers the hepatitis E vaccine to a woman in Hai Matar, Jonglei State.

Warrap State government has declared an outbreak of Hepatitis E in Twic County after a 3-year-old girl tested positive.

Information Minister William Wol Mayom said the case was identified two weeks ago with another suspected case presenting symptoms of nausea, fever, headache and back pain.

Mayom said the samples were brought to the national medical laboratory in Juba for examination, where one tested positive and the other negative.

“The issue actually happened two weeks ago when two patients experienced symptoms of fever, nausea, headache and some kind of back pain. They are a three-year-old girl, and another patient discovered in Unrok, Twich County,” Mayom said.

Following the positive result, the state government declared the outbreak in Twic County, according to a press statement seen by Eye Radio.

“The samples were taken to Juba for further medical examination, and in that examination, the result came out for one female child, three years old, positive and this is where we discovered it.”

“It is stated clearly that whenever there is a positive case of one patient, then it could be declared an outbreak because it contaminates many people. So, Warrap State is actually being declared to have the Hepatitis E outbreak.”

Hepatitis E Virus is a liver disease caused by infection with virus known as Hepatitis E virus which is transmitted via faecal-oral route, principally via the contaminated water.

According to WHO, each year there are around 20 million cases of Hepatitis E virus with over 3 million acute cases of the virus and around 57,000 Hepatitis E related deaths globally.

The outbreak occurs in places where there is a contamination of drinking water supplies by human wastes and may affect many people.

Hepatitis E patients usually recover on their own, but in some cases, it may develop into acute liver failure.