A study released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nine Alabama children hospitalized with hepatitis also had adenoviruses, a common disease that typically causes mild cold symptoms, bolstering the theory that it is linked with the ongoing international hepatitis outbreak among children.
A micrograph of adenoviruses.
Five Alabama children were diagnosed with adenoviruses type 41, a variant that can cause hepatitis in children with immune disorders, but is not known to cause the disease in otherwise healthy children, according to the CDC.
Six of the children tested positive for the Epstein-Barr virus, a common and typically mild pathogen, though it had apparently subsided before the children were diagnosed with the disease.
According to the CDC, all nine children had recovered or were recovering, including two who underwent transplants.
The director-general of the World Health Organization said Tuesday that 169 child hepatitis cases have been identified in the U.S. and 11 European countries.
None of the viruses that typically cause hepatitis were found in 169 children with the disease, and 74 of them had adenoviruses.
The viruses hepatitis A, B, C, D and E cause inflammation in the body. The outbreak of the disease has not been linked to the viruses.
Simon Taylor-Robinson, a researcher at Imperial College London, said that it was possible that practicing social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic weakened the immune systems of children. The CDC said that adenoviruses has not yet been identified as a cause of the outbreak.
The U.K. Health Security Agency first reported the outbreak on April 6 after about 60 children under the age of 10 were diagnosed with the disease. Cases have been reported in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. The WHO said at least one death has been reported in the international outbreak. The death could be connected to the outbreak and would raise the death toll to two. Scientists are puzzled because adenoviruses is not known to cause hepatitis in healthy children.
In the US, May is Hepatitis Awareness month.
There is a child hepatitis outbreak that could be linked to the common cold virus.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
