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. The leading hypothesis for the cause therefore remains adenoviruses.
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. The WHO was first informed regarding unexplained hepatitis cases in Scotland at the beginning of 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.
There have been some important advances in the investigation of the cases and possible causes in the past week, said Philippa Easterbrook of the WHO’s global hepatitis programme. “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 regarding 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 regarding 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. (SDA)
