TWELVE COUNTRIES REPORT A RISE IN ACUTE HEPATITIS CASES AS A CHILD DIES

Sun 24 April 2022:

According to the World Health Organisation(WHO), one child has died due to acute hepatitis after cases were detected in at least 12 countries.

Children in the US, UK and Europe had earlier reported cases of inflammation of the liver, however, the health authorities have been unable to understand the exact cause of the illness.

The WHO had informed that it had launched an investigation into the mysterious increase in severe cases of hepatitis among children as it reported at least 169 cases have been reported so far.

The UN health body said the origin of the hepatitis was still unknown, as of 21 April 2022, at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin have been reported from 11 countries in the WHO European Region and one country in the WHO Region of the Americas (Figure 1). Cases have been reported in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the United Kingdom) (114), Spain (13), Israel (12), the United States of America (9), Denmark (6), Ireland (<5), The Netherlands (4), Italy (4), Norway (2), France (2), Romania (1), and Belgium (1).

The age of the kids ranges from one month to 16 years, WHO said while informing that seventeen kids needed liver transplantation with common cold virus detected in at least 74 cases.

The clinical syndrome among identified cases is acute hepatitis (liver inflammation) with markedly elevated liver enzymes. Many cases reported gastrointestinal symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting preceding presentation with severe acute hepatitis, and increased levels of liver enzymes (aspartate transaminase (AST) or alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) greater the 500 IU/L) and jaundice.

Most cases did not have a fever. The common viruses that cause acute viral hepatitis (hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E) have not been detected in any of these cases. International travel or links to other countries based on the currently available information have not been identified as factors.

Further investigations are ongoing in countries that have identified cases and include more detailed clinical and exposure histories, toxicology testing (i.e. environmental and food toxicity testing), and additional virological/microbiological tests. Affected countries have also initiated enhanced surveillance activities.

The US CDC had earlier said it was investigating hepatitis cases in Alabama including in other states.

In the U.S., Alabama health officials identified nine cases of hepatitis in children, ages 1 to 6, who also had tested positive for adenovirus since October. None of the children had COVID-19.

The CDC sent out an alert Thursday warning doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms of pediatric hepatitis, possibly linked with a cold virus, as part of a wider probe into unexplained cases of severe liver inflammation in young children.

In the advisory, the CDC asked health care providers or state public health authorities to alert the agency to any child younger than 10 who may have been diagnosed with hepatitis with an unknown cause since October.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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