The search for the cause continues: in nine cases in the US state of Alabama, all affected children have tested positive for adenovirus 41.
US health experts suspect an adenovirus behind the buildup of unexplained hepatitis in children. In nine of those cases in Alabama, all of the affected children have tested positive for adenovirus 41, the US health authority CDC said on Friday. “At this time, we believe that adenovirus may be the cause of the reported cases, but other possible environmental and situational factors are still being investigated.”
There are more than 50 known adenoviruses, which usually cause only mild illness, in most cases the common cold. Adenovirus 41 can cause gastroenteritis in children, but “it is not generally known to cause hepatitis in healthy children,” the CDC said.
abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and jaundice
An investigation of the cases in Alabama therefore ruled out other possibilities such as Covid, hepatitis A, B and C virus or Wilson’s disease as causes. The children, aged one to six years, suffered from abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and jaundice. Three of them suffered acute liver failure, two required liver transplantation.
Since late March, several countries have reported unexplained cases of hepatitis in children. The first cases appeared in the UK, with others in other European countries, Israel and Japan. Two cases became known in Austria. So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has counted 170 cases in eleven countries. In the US state of Wisconsin, where four cases have also been recorded, one child died as a result. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that rarely occurs in healthy children.
EU health authority ECDC was also concerned about the unexplained cases of illness on Thursday. The EU authority also assumed a possible adenovirus connection as a “working hypothesis”.
(APA/AFP)