The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) made a worrying announcement, saying that more than 100 kids have gone down with a mystery hepatitis condition, with eight of those children needing emergency liver transplants.
The British health agency said that a further 34 cases of the sudden liver inflammation had been identified in the United Kingdom, bringing the total across the nation to 108. The hepatitis outbreak has been affecting other countries as well, with cases also reported in the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, and the United States.
NBC News reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already asked physicians in the U.S. to be on the lookout for unusual cases of severe hepatitis in children, with the agency issuing a health advisory regarding the matter on Thursday, April 21. Nine cases have been reported in Alabama, and two more have been identified in North Carolina.
What is causing the sudden rise in hepatitis cases among kids?
Scientists are still unsure what is causing the rise in hepatitis cases among children, but they suspect a virus is causing the liver damage. They have not ruled out COVID-19 as the primary suspect, but their main focus is on a family of common viruses called adenoviruses that usually cause a range of mild illnesses including diarrhea, colds, and vomiting.
Some medical experts believe the weakened immune systems of children following repeated lockdowns could be a factor in these hepatitis cases. Dr. Meera Chand, director of infections at UKHSA, told the Mirror that they are working with the National Health Service (NHS) and public health colleagues in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland to swiftly investigate a wide range of possible factors which may be causing children to have liver inflammation.
Symptoms of hepatitis include jaundice, high temperature, dark urine, vomiting, loss of appetite, muscle and joint pain, grey-colored poo, and itchy skin. Hepatitis is usually caused by viruses hepatitis A to E, but they are not responsible for the latest outbreak.
Children could be immunologically naïve to the virus causing hepatitis
Dr. Kimberly Marsh wrote in the journal Eurosurveillance that kids could be "immunologically naive" to the virus triggering the liver inflammation because of restrictions brought upon by the COVID pandemic. The epidemiologist at Public Health Scotland said that the leading hypotheses by scientists center around adenovirus.
The one causing hepatitis may either be a new adenovirus variant with a distinct clinical syndrome or a routinely circulating adenovirus variant that is more severely impacting younger children who are immunologically naive. Marsh added that the latter scenario might be the result of restricted social mixing during the COVID pandemic.
The UKHSA has made it clear that COVID-19 vaccines were not causing the hepatitis cases as none of the sick children had received a jab. Regarding the breakdown of cases in the U.K., 79 of the affected children live in England, 14 in Scotland, and the remainder are based in Northern Ireland and Wales.
All the kids with hepatitis cases were presented to health services between January 2022 and April 12, 2022.
