The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization are revealing new and striking details about the symptoms children face with a mysterious form of liver inflammation as they get sick. On Friday, the CDC released a new, more detailed report on the nine confirmed cases of adenovirus-associated hepatitis observed in the Children’s of Alabama between October and February. Three of the patients suffered from acute liver failure and two needed liver transplants. All patients were under seven years old and the majority (five of them) were infants under two years old. WHO scientists are also concerned about this rise and are monitoring a similar outbreak of hepatitis in Europe. About 10% of these patients needed liver transplants and at least one child died. Dr Philippa Easterbrook, senior scientist at the World Hepatitis Program at the WHO, told a Q&A on Thursday that this type of “severe hepatitis is uncommon” in children, especially because “the majority of these children were previously healthy” and to have any kind of common environmental exposure that young people had to a toxin or metal that could make them sick. More cases of unusual hepatitis have been reported in the state of North Carolina and Wisconsin, where health officials report possible death.
Jaundice, an indication that the liver is not working properly, is a common symptom
Both the CDC and the WHO say two of the first signs that young children need to be alert at home are: If hepatitis progresses, caregivers may notice signs of jaundice, such as:
yellow eyes, Yellowing skin
Keep in mind that these reports of severe pediatric hepatitis in the US and Europe are still quite rare, however. About 170 cases have been reported so far in 16 different countries, the WHO said on Thursday, Richard Peabody said. Experts are not sure exactly what causes inflammation of the liver, but they suspect that a virus called adenovirus 41, which has been discovered in many of the sick children, may have something to do with the condition. All nine children in Alabama were infected with an adenovirus and at least seven of them tested positive for other viral pathogens, including Epstein-Barr virus, RSV and rhinovirus. None of the Alabama kids tested positive for COVID. However, there is still a possibility that the recent increase in pediatric COVID-19 infections may play a role in this epidemic, reducing the ability of the child’s immune system to fight other new pathogens after COVID-19 (currently, Scientists say more research is needed.) Experts say vaccines for COVID-19 are unlikely to have anything to do with it, as most of the sick children are too young to be vaccinated. Because viruses are transmitted through close contact and – in some cases – by people who accidentally put bad breath in their mouths, basic hygiene measures such as good, regular hand washing and the same coverage, distancing and ventilation protocols recommended against COVID -19 are the best prevention tools recommended by clinicians against this hepatitis.
