Outbreaks of mysterious hepatitis in children will continue throughout the summer and many cases will remain undiagnosed, experts warn – as the number of deaths globally rises to 12, including 5 deaths in America, as Dr. Matthew warned Pinker, chief of virology at the Mayo Clinic, said cases continued to emerge this summer.
States in which the disease appears
The newspaper said, the leading theory is that the disease is caused by an adenovirus that spreads naturally by touching stool and then the area around the mouth.
He said, that many cases in the United States remain undiagnosed, likely due to them being milder cases, and America has so far recorded 5 deaths due to hepatitis, one of which is in Wisconsin.
He added, at least 12 children died around the world, and deaths were also reported in Indonesia, Palestine, and Ireland.
expert Matthew
A top virologist warned Friday that the mysterious hepatitis outbreak in America will continue “all summer” and that many cases are already undiagnosed, as the global death toll reaches 12 people and 5 deaths in the United States.
Scientists are baffled by the cause, but leading theories suggest that a type of adenovirus spread by touching surfaces contaminated with feces is the cause of the disease..
Dr. Matthew Pennecker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic, said: Mayo Clinic In Minnesota, cases will continue to appear year-round because transmission “tends not to be seasonal.”“.
He warned that schools and care centers – where many children mix – were major centers of spreading the virus.
Dr. Pinker warned that many cases of hepatitis among children remain undiagnosed in the United States because in some cases, children will not be well enough to take their parents to the doctor or hospital..
The majority of children infected with occult hepatitis in the United States have tested positive for adenovirus, but it is not clear whether the virus itself causes disease or infection along with another factor such as a previous diagnosis of coronavirus.
Adenoviruses are relatively common among children, but until this year they were rarely associated with hepatitis, and the common causes of the disease – hepatitis viruses – have been ruled out, the newspaper said. A And B And C And D And E –
So far at least 12 children have died of mysterious hepatitis worldwide, 5 deaths have also been reported in Indonesia and one each in Ireland and Palestine, more than 110 cases have been recorded in 26 states so far, with 15 children contracting the disease So severe that they need a liver transplant.
Globally, 450 cases have been reported in 21 countries, mostly among children under 10, most of them in the UK (160), which first detected the outbreak..
“I wouldn’t be comfortable saying this outbreak has peaked, I would say cases will continue to emerge throughout the summer because we will continue to see children in nursery where there is higher transmission,” said Dr. Pinker, chief of virology at the Mayo Clinic. The type of adenovirus we don’t tend to think will be seasonal, we will continue to see cases throughout the year.”
He added, “The adenovirus that tested positive in most children with hepatitis occult is called type 41 in scientific terms, and this infects the digestive system and causes symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting, spread through oral feces, or when someone touches a surface contaminated with feces and then touches their mouth.” Later.
In response to a question about whether many cases will be detected in the United States, Benecker warned that it is likely that many of them will be diagnosed because they are milder..
He explained, “Hepatitis can occur on a gradual scale, leading to an individual being admitted to hospital where the disease is milder, and in mild cases, parents may not take their children for examination or to the hospital. Such as vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, and some also suffer from upper respiratory conditions such as coughing or sore throat that precede hepatitis.
He emphasized, those who subsequently develop hepatitis will notice changes in the color of the skin, so symptoms of jaundice or yellowing of the skin appear on some, ranging from very noticeable to very minor changes. Sometimes, but other times it is very subtle and may go unnoticed.”
He added that with about 90% of children who went to see a doctor being admitted to hospital, this meant that there was only a “small percentage” of those who were not sick enough to go to the doctors..
He stressed that it was still too early to say whether the United States would detect the most cases in the world, where it is currently ranked second, but said that because there is a large population in the country, it indicates that there are “much more here than in other countries.”“.
The newspaper pointed out that the United Kingdom, with a population of 67 million people – the most cases in the world so far with more than 160 cases.
But the United States – where nearly 5 times as many people live or 329 million – had the second highest number of cases at more than 110, and both countries have detected hepatitis more than others due to their robust disease surveillance systems..
The newspaper pointed out that cases of hepatitis that have not been diagnosed but have improved on their own should not worry parents, as they are unlikely to have any long-term effects, but any parents concerned about their child should take him for examination..
runs benecker Binnicker The Mayo Clinic Department of Clinical Virology, has contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) To offer help testing patient samples for adenovirus, but he said for now the offer has not been accepted, likely because there have been only relatively few cases so far..
Yesterday the state of Missouri updated the number of cases Lever Inflammation It has reported 10 patients, and North Carolina more than quadrupled its toll from 2 to 9, both states were previously known to have hepatitis B cases, although they have now provided updated numbers.
It’s not clear how many of these cases are actually included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mysterious hepatitis case count.
Most cases were reported in the United States from about October to March, but Hawaii said this week that it had a case that was hospitalized for a few days at the end of April. There are now confirmed or suspected cases in 26 states: Alabama, Arizona, California , Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, as done At least one case reported in Puerto Rico.
The CDC declined to reveal where the five deaths occurred in the United States, citing “confidentiality issues.”“But there has been at least one in Wisconsin, where the Health Department confirmed last month that it was investigating a death linked to the disease.