THE ESSENTIAL
- Among the cases of hepatitis detected in children, some were serious and required a liver transplant.
- So far, no deaths have been reported in children affected by this disease in the United Kingdom.
“An inflammation of the liver caused by toxic substances, or by viruses in the majority of cases”. This is the definition given by the Institut Pasteur of hepatitis. Usually, this disease mainly affects adults. But several cases have been identified this month in children in the United Kingdom. Scotland had declared 10 cases to the World Health Organization (WHO) on April 5. Three days later, there were 74 more. In the majority of cases, the young patients were under 10 years old.
None of the viruses usually involved were detected
According to the Pasteur Institute, hepatitis can be caused by five viruses, designated by the letters A, B, C, D, and E because they have different modes of transmission and different levels of severity. But, in children diagnosed in the UK, none of these usual viruses were detected.
At the request of the health authorities, scientific work has therefore started to identify whether another type of virus was involved, in particular Covid-19. The researchers are also working on environmental reasons. At the same time, the WHO also announced that it had launched an investigation to find out the origin of this hepatitis. On the other hand, none of the children who suffered from hepatitis were vaccinated once morest the coronavirus. Thus, the health authorities claim that the latter cannot therefore be the cause.
Wash your hands regularly to protect yourself
Symptoms described by patients included diarrhea, jaundice, vomiting and abdominal pain. Thus, to protect young British people, the health authorities wanted to recall that the best protection once morest viruses remains classic hygiene measures, such as regular hand washing. For the moment, the situation remains “under surveillance” by the WHO but, according to the organization, it does not currently justify any international travel restrictions, even with the United Kingdom.
