The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just reported the sixth death of children in the United States with hepatitis, a serious liver disease that affects young children and whose origin is so far unknown.
In the past seven months, the disease, which is believed to only affect children, has spread to 180 patients in 36 states and US territories, a worrying spread that raises many questions about its viral nature. Indeed, according to the CDC, the tests carried out on all of the infected children made it possible to exclude some of the viruses generally associated with hepatitis, namely those responsible for hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
The CDC also said 71 children were infected in two weeks, noting that most of them would be “retrospective” patients who may have been infected for weeks or even months. “Not all of them are recent, and some may ultimately not be related to the ongoing investigation,” said the CDC, which is running a series of tests to take a closer look at the virus’s genome. and other potential pathogens. Adenovirus 41, detected in nearly half of the children, is considered a “solid lead”.
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Adenoviruses are generally linked to much less dangerous diseases, such as conjunctivitis, where acute liver injury is not common. Experts say it could be a new form of adenovirus, or something completely new. Another lead that would explain this outbreak of hepatitis in children is that of an “abnormal immune reaction” to a previous infection with COVID-19. According to an article published in the British medical journal The Lancet, “persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the gastrointestinal tract may lead to the repeated release of viral proteins through the intestinal epithelium, giving rise to immune activation” .
When the immune system also faces an adenovirus infection, it could trigger an overreaction to the infection, releasing large amounts of inflammatory proteins and inflaming the liver, the authors explained. As for a potential reaction to COVID-19 vaccines, experts were able to rule this out given that only a tiny minority of patients have been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2; vaccines are not available for children under 5, the age group most affected by the infection.
While stressing that acute hepatitis in children remains rare, the CDC encourages parents and caregivers to be alert for signs of the disease, including jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).
With MAP