The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the deaths of five children and a group of more than 100 cases of the disease in young children in the United States.
The C.D.C. said it was looking at cases of children in 25 states and territories who had or have what the agency is calling hepatitis of unknown cause.
The deputy director for infectious diseases at the C.D.C. said that most of the children had recovered. He said that more than 90 percent were hospitalized, 14 percent received transplants, and more than half had adenoviruses.
The C.D.C. and experts overseas are looking into whether a type of adenoviruses may be a factor in some cases. The agency has not determined a cause for the cases or a common link among them, and cautioned against drawing conclusions.
In a news briefing on Friday, Dr. Butler said it was an evolving situation. It is important to remember that severe hepatitis in children is rare even with the potential increase in cases that we are reporting today.
The number of hepatitis cases in the United States is not much more than the number usually seen in young children.
The agency didn't give any information about the deaths of the children.
More than 160 young children in the United Kingdom have been reported to have or have had the disease recently.
There are a number of factors that can lead to the spread of the disease, including alcoholism, drugs, and autoimmune conditions. Symptoms include nausea and abdominal pain.
There was no evidence that the Covid vaccine was linked to the U.S. cases. The World Health Organization said this week that most of the children it had reviewed had not beenvaccinated.
The alarm began two weeks ago when the C.D.C. issued an alert. There was evidence of an adenoviruses infection in all of them. Their median age was 2.
The problem for the C.D.C. is to determine if the adenoviruses is a cause or an innocent bystander. Adenoviruses is not a disease that can be reported in the United States, so doctors don't usually test children for it. If children were sick with certain symptoms, he urged doctors to test them for adenoviruses.
It is not known how likely it would be for nine children to have had adenoviruses infections. When the Alabama children were ill, the adenoviruses season was the fall and winter.
By the time the children were evaluated, the amount of virus was very low.
We are working hard to find the cause. He said that the search is difficult because the disease is rare in children.
Exposure to animals or an immune reaction to an adenoviruses at the top of the list are possibilities.
He said that they were casting a broad net.
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