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U.S. health officials have sent out a national alert warning physicians to be vigilant for symptoms of pediatric hepatitis, possibly related to a cold virus, as part of a larger investigation into unexplained cases of severe liver inflammation in young children.
The warning follows investigations in the United States and Europe of clusters of hepatitis detected in young children.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they are working with their counterparts in Europe to understand the cause of the infections .
A common cold virus known as adenovirus has been confirmed in several, but not all, of the European cases.
The UK health authorities said on Thursday s that have identified a total of 108 cases of pediatric hepatitis. In some cases, the cases were so severe that the children required liver transplants.
Additional cases have been reported in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The US alert directs physicians to report any suspected cases of the disease occurring with an unknown origin to their state and local health departments.
Also suggests that clinicians test for adenoviruses in young patients with symptoms of the disease, including fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain abdominal pain, dark urine, light-colored stools, joint pain, and jaundice.
The warning followed a CDC investigation with the Alabama Department of Public Health into a cluster of nine cases of hepatitis d of unknown origin in previously healthy children between 1 and 6 years of age.
The first such cases in the United States were identified in October 2021 in a children’s hospital in Alabama that admitted five young patients with significant liver injury, including some with acute liver failure, of unknown cause. In those cases, the children tested positive for adenovirus.
The most common forms of liver disease (hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C) were ruled out.
A review of hospital records identified four additional cases, all of whom had liver damage and adenovirus infection.
The tests Laboratory tests found that some of these children were infected with adenovirus type 41, which causes an acute infection of the digestive system. The state has not found any new cases beyond the original cluster.
The CDC is working with state health departments to identify cases in the US. While the leading theory is that the cases are caused by a type specific to adenovirus, health officials are also considering other possible contributing factors.
Scotland’s public health agency first raised the alarm about unusual cases of hepatitis in children on April 6. Now 04 cases have been identified in the country.
More and more researchers believe that adenovirus infection could be behind the cases, possibly “in conjunction” with another virus, since the 77% of children in the UK tested positive for adenovirus, McMenamin said.
However, he said, other causes have not been ruled out, including exposure to toxins, COVID- 19 or a new pathogen, either together with adenovirus infection or alone.
No cases from the UK or US have been linked to the COVID-vaccine 19. and Alabama state health officials said none of the nine cases had a history of previous COVID-19.
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