Eight refugee children aged 2-18 years old are being hospitalized after they were diagnosed to have been infected with Hepatitis A. All the children were residents of refugee center in Nea Kavala and are now hospitalized in Kilkis, northern Greece.
“The virus is transmitted orally, from food, from hands, from contaminated water,” Stratis Plomaritis, the commander of the Fourth Public Health Department in Central Macedonia, told Athens News Agency.
The relevant health mechanism has been activated as it happens in cases of contagious diseases, while steps are taken to vaccine the refugees in this accommodation center.
Deputy secretary of the Association of the Employees at the General Hospital of Kilkis, Achilleas Kalemkeridis spoke of a “serious situation” noting that “in 2015 the reported cases of Hepatitis in Greece were 62, but now, within ten days, there are 8 cases.”
The General Hospital of Kilkis has reportedly received order to have the children transferred to another hospital even in Thessaloniki if there are not enough beds available to treat infectious diseases in the pediatric wards.
