We’re starting to understand the mysterious surge of hepatitis in children
(MIT Technology Review 07/25/22)
Hundreds of young children around the world have developed severe cases of hepatitis with no obvious cause, leaving doctors baffled. But two new studies reveal the potential culprits: a combination of genetic factors, lockdowns, and at least two viruses working together.
Doctors first noticed a strange cluster of hepatitis cases in young children in Scotland in April this year. By April 8, 60 cases were being investigated across Scotland, England, and Wales, mostly in children aged two to five. As of July 8, the World Health Organization reported 1,010 probable cases of the liver condition in 35 countries—although the true number is likely to be higher, says Antonia Ho, an infectious diseases consultant at the MRC–University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, who has been investigating the outbreak. A third of the cases reported so far have been in the US.
These cases are severe—around 5% of the children infected worldwide have needed liver transplants, and 22 have died. And the cause of the outbreak has been something of a mystery. These children don’t have the viruses that usually cause the disease.
Early on, the most obvious suspects were SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind covid-19, and adenovirus, a common virus that often causes cold- and flu-like symptoms. Adenoviruses appeared to surge as lockdowns ended and people began to mingle more, following a period of unusually low transmission.
In an attempt to find out more, Ho, along with Emma Thomson, a professor in infectious diseases at the MRC–University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, and their colleagues, have been carefully studying some of the affected children. In a recent study that’s yet to be peer reviewed, the team assessed nine children in Scotland with the mystery hepatitis, and compared them with 58 children who did not have the condition.
The team studied blood, liver, and fecal samples taken from the children, as well as throat and nose swabs. While they were unable to find the viruses that usually cause hepatitis, they did find adenovirus in samples from six of the nine children.
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