Dubai: Health authorities are investigating the death of a two-year-old boy who died two days after he was admitted for high fever, unconsciousness and bleeding from the nose.
The toddler died on Tuesday after he was admitted to Al Qasimi Hospital on Sunday, according to his distressed father, who was later admitted to hospital along with his 8-year old daughter, for similar symptoms.
Dr. Ali Shakar, undersecretary at the Health Ministry, told Gulf News that the father and sister were recovering from their illness.
"The father and [sister] are stable and their fever has reduced. We are going to discharge them soon after 48 hours of observation," he said, adding that the hospital was taking appropriate precautions to prevent transmission.
He also said that ministry officials suspected that the boy died of Herpes Encephalitis, a viral infection characterised by high fever, seizures and depressed level of consciousness.
He added that the ministry could not confirm the diagnosis until they received received the results of blood tests sent to laboratories in Germany and the UK, expected today.
He said the infectious disease specialists on the case have so far ruled out mosquito-borne illnesses.
"I can 100 per cent say that it is not haemorrhagic fever, dengue or Japanese encephalitis," he said, explaining that mosquitoes that carried these diseases were not found in the UAE.
He said health officials did not know how the family was infected as they had not travelled or had any contact with animals recently. They also reportedly did not have any food poisoning history.
He also said that there were no reports of similar cases at other hospitals.
The boy's father told Gulf News from hospital that the family had gone to their hometown of Homs, Syria during the summer, returning two months ago.
Herpes type 1 can affect any age group
Herpes Encephalitis is caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1. It can affect any age group, but is most common in people under the age of 20 and above the age of 40.
The mode of transmission is usually through exposure to infected saliva or respiratory secretions, which travels along the nose into the limbic lobe.
Symptoms include fever and headache for several days, followed by behavioural changes, seizures, partial paralysis and unconsciousness. Not all cases exhibit these symptoms.
