Scientists around the world are worried about more and more cases of hitherto unexplained severe hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) in young children, which come to light in various European countries (Britain, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands) and in the USA. Relevant announcements or warnings have already been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), the US and European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC and ECDC), and the British Health Insurance Agency (HSA).
The situation raises concerns among experts, as the co-occurrence of cases of severe childhood hepatitis of undetermined etiology is considered strange in so many countries. Viruses can cause hepatitis, but healthy children rarely get sick and are seriously ill. Although so far no death of a child from mysterious hepatitis has been reportedseveral have shown acute liver failure and have required hospitalization or liver transplantation.
The prevailing theory so far – but not certainty – in the scientific community is that the cause is in an adenovirus (a family of viruses usually responsible for colds), as many of the sick children were diagnosed with the virus. However, the possibility that the coronavirus is also involved has not been ruled out.
«This is a serious phenomenon. The children were perfectly healthy until a week ago. However, most recover on their own“Said pediatrician-hepatologist Deirdre Kelly of the British Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, according to” Science “.
“The situation must be taken seriously. “The increase in incidents is unexpected and the usual causes have been ruled out,” the WHO Regional Office for Europe said in a statement.
The first case was found on March 31 in Scotland in children aged three to five who had been admitted to hospital and diagnosed with hepatitis of unknown etiology. In Scotland there are a maximum of four cases of severe childhood hepatitis each year, and by April 12 this year 13 had already been diagnosed. , with the most common symptoms being vomiting, abdominal pain and jaundice. Other possible symptoms are dark urine, itchy skin, joint stiffness, muscle aches, fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, etc.
It was initially assumed that “is guilty” a toxic substance in food, drink or toys, but now the attention of experts is focused on a virus. None of the children in Britain or Spain were found to be infected with the hepatitis A, B, C, D or E virus.
On the other, some had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the previous weeks or months, while no one had been vaccinated against covid-19, the possibility that the events were associated with a side effect of the vaccine was ruled out. About half of the sick children were found to have adenovirus, a class of viruses that causes vomiting, diarrhea, conjunctivitis and cold symptoms, but very rarely hepatitis.
According to experts in Scotland and their publication in the Eurosurveillance, “the predominant hypotheses focus on the adenovirus: either a new variant with a distinct clinical syndrome or a routine variation that more severely affects younger children with lower immune defenses. ».
Isolation of young children during pandemic lockdowns may have made them more vulnerable immunologically, because they were not exposed to the usual variety of viruses, including adenoviruses. “We are seeing an outbreak of typical childhood viral infections as children come out of the lockdown, as well as an outbreak of adenovirus infections, but we can not be sure that one is causing the other,” said Will Irving, a clinical virologist at the University of the United Kingdom. of Nottingham.
Scientists continue to study the issue, without excluding either the involvement of a hitherto unknown toxin, or the possibility that it is a complication of long-term covid-19. It is considered possible, according to epidemiologist Jim McMenamin of the Scottish Public Health Agency, that not all cases have the same cause.
In the United States, where nine such cases of hepatitis are being investigated in Alabama in children aged one to six, an adenovirus has also been found in all of them, with strain 41 being more common, but usually causing gastroenteritis rather than hepatitis. A CDC spokesman said the Center “works with state health departments to see if there are other cases in the US and what might be causing them».
Authorities in Spain announced the location on April 13 three severe cases in children 2 to 13 years old in different areas (Madrid, Aragon, Castile-La Mancha), while pediatricians in the Netherlands and Denmark also reported similar cases of severe childhood hepatitis requiring liver transplantation.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
