Hepatitis

Young children across the world are inexplicably coming down with the liver illness, putting parents and doctors on alert.

Acute forms of viral hepatitis are typically caused by an infection with one of the five hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E. It’s not unusual to see cases of hepatitis following an infection with one of these viruses—but in children, this generally occurs when they are immunosuppressed. “The strongest evidence is for adenovirus, because it’s just one of the most consistent things that they’ve seen,” says Bamford. This family of common viruses is one of the main causes of the common cold, and around three-quarters of the British children who’ve fallen ill have tested positive for one. One theory is that a mutated form of adenovirus could be circulating, which would explain why reactions are more severe than usual. “The unusual thing is that it’s happening so frequently, in such a short period of time, in generally well children,” says Connor Bamford, a virologist at Queen’s University Belfast. However, hepatitis viruses weren’t detected in any of the kids, and so can be ruled out. In January 2022, doctors in Scotland noticed a worrying trend: a scattering of cases of severe hepatitis in kids between 1 and 5 years old.

Nearly 200 cases of severe, unexplained hepatitis have been reported in children worldwide. Here's what we know so far.

None of the U.S. cases have tested positive for COVID-19, and U.K. officials have also not found a connection. Although doctors sometimes see cases of unexplained hepatitis in children, they are now seeing a greater than expected number in places where the outbreaks have been reported. About a dozen other countries have since reported cases, including the U.S., Israel, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Norway, France, Romania and Belgium, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The cases have mostly occurred in children under age 10. But officials suspect that the cases are linked with adenovirus infections. In addition, hepatitis viruses — the usual culprit for liver inflammation — have been ruled out in these cases, Live Science previously reported. Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver.

Health authorities scrambling for answers have now detected a new case of acute hepatitis - severe inflammation of the liver - closer to Australia, as it ...

You get liver inflammation, the immune system trying to clear it and that’s the major issue.” Tu says the spread “depends on what the underlying virus is, if it is a virus at all”. Japan’s Health Ministry this week announced a child was in hospital with acute hepatitis of unknown origins in what is believed to be the first case of the mystery outbreak in Asia. “They’ve looked at the kids that have it and they have high rates of this virus, but that doesn’t really say this particular virus is causing it,” Tu said. “This is a fairly common virus that’s already out there and circulating, that’s associated with usually diarrhoea or other adenoviruses are associated with the common cold.” Health authorities scrambling for answers have now detected a new case of acute hepatitis - severe inflammation of the liver - closer to Australia, as it reaches Asia for what is believed to be the first time.

Scientists are urgently trying to find the cause of the global outbreak of severe liver disease in young children. So far, adenovirus seems to be the best ...

Because of the number of cases and the severity of the disease in children, scientists are urgently investigating the cause of the outbreak. Sampling the population (both adults and children) to get an idea of how prevalent adenovirus 41 is in these reporting areas versus other areas of low to no incidence would help firm up the link. In the meantime, parents should be vigilant for hepatitis symptoms in their children, including yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice), dark urine, pale poo, itchy skin, feeling tired and tummy pain. Early in the outbreak, epidemiologists sought to identify contact links with these cases and, of course, to identify what the cause of the viral hepatitis was. However, none of the cases reported in the UK had received a COVID vaccine and the COVID vaccines that do use adenoviruses use an unrelated virus that cannot multiply. Subtype 41 belongs to the adenovirus clustering that is typically associated with mild-to-moderate gastroenteritis; essentially a stomach bug with symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Unusual liver damage in kids, hepatitis, has been confirmed in 12 countries. The state of Wisconsin has reported cases and the first possible death in the ...

There were only nine reported cases in the U.S. at the time of the WHO report on April 23. WHO did not specify in what country the death occurred. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that can affect its function.