The World Health Organization (WHO) is investigating a connection between the corona virus and the mysterious hepatitis diseases in children. In the meantime, 348 probable cases of the disease of unknown origin have been reported in 20 countries, the WHO said on Tuesday. More than 160 of these have been reported in the UK alone. There are also 70 cases from 13 countries that have not yet been finally classified.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that rarely occurs in healthy children. Recently, the number of mysterious hepatitis diseases in children has increased worldwide. Cases of the disease in children have also been reported in Austria.
The WHO was first informed about unexplained hepatitis cases in Scotland in early April. According to the United States, it is now investigating more than a hundred cases, in five of which the children died. In some cases, liver transplants have been necessary.
In the past week, there have been “some important advances” in investigating the cases and possible causes, said Philippa Easterbrook of the WHO’s global hepatitis program. “Currently, the leading hypotheses remain those involving adenoviruses – although the role of Covid, either as a co-infection or as a prior infection, also still plays an important role.”
Further testing over the past week confirmed that about 70 percent of hepatitis cases tested positive for adenoviruses, with subtype 41 – usually associated with gastrointestinal inflammation – being the predominant subtype. The tests also showed that about 18 percent of cases tested positive for Covid-19.
With the help of new data from Great Britain, the researchers now want to clarify “whether Adeno is just an accidentally discovered infection or whether there is a causal” connection, Easterbrook said. Previous investigations did not show any of the typical features that would be expected in hepatitis caused by adenoviruses.
Adenoviruses are common viruses that usually only cause mild illness. There are more than 50 types of these viruses that are transmitted by droplet infection. Most of these pathogens cause colds, but some trigger other symptoms.