ABDOMINAL SWELLING IN CHILDREN & SCARIFICATION MARKS

Anuekuku is the name people from the Delta river banks call it. In most other lgbo states, they call it Apa-afo. I know many other places will have different names for it. Whatever other names you have for it, it is that Abdominal swelling in children with a hard mass in the tummy when touched. This is common in children with chronic illnesses, Anaemia, malnutrition or those living in malaria endemic region.

I know that you might have seen or heard someone suffering from that and probably believe in their traditional method of treatment, which is to give the child scarification marks on the abdomen, or worse still cover it with leaves or other things that can introduce infection.

A child with abdominal swelling. Trado-medical centers treat it with Scarification Marks. Wrong!😐

Of what use is it to complicate a helpless child's health because of ill and baseless practices? I'm just wondering whose idea it was in the first place and what they tend to achieve with the scarification marks. Trado-medical centers will keep the child and continue their "only God knows what " until the child develops complications. Then they will finally show them the way to the hospital.

I came across a patient today with the condition. The child presented with complications ( severe anaemia with anaemia heart failure). Of course the child has "Mark of destruction" aggressively made all over her abdomen and even on her chest.

I was filled with empathy for the helpless child and at the same time in much furry for the mother. Where exactly lies the problem - ignorance or poverty? I think both. But could that excuse her tormenting a helpless child? I so much doubt.

Anyway, the so called apa-afo, anuekuku... is a medical condition known as hepato-speenomegaly.

Hepato-speenomegaly is a medical condition in which a person's spleen and liver gets enlarged. There could be independent enlargement, where either the spleen or the liver enlarges, and the other is normal. Usually enlargement of only the spleen is seen here in the tropics. The degree of the enlargement is dependent on the cause and how severe the offending factor is.

It has a wide array of causes and the treatment is not in any way giving the child scarification marks. Rather this predisposes the child to blood loss and worsening anaemia, infection and in some cases Sepsis (spread of the infection to the blood).

I'm motivated to write more posts on hepato-speenomegaly syndrome. If a single person gets enlightened and a single child saved the agony of scarification marks, that is fine by me. Watch out for more in this series.

THANK YOU FOR READING!