The origin of the outbreak of acute hepatitis in children, which already extends to 30 countries, remains an unknown to be resolved for the scientific community. After linking it to adenovirus F41 and a possible animal origin, a recent study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom, the country where this disease originated, points to a direct relationship with Covid-19.
The research, peer-reviewed and published in the journal The Lancet, points out that some of the children in the UK and Israel diagnosed with acute hepatitis have or had covid. In addition, most of them would not have any vaccine protection, since due to their young age they do not fall within the range established by regulatory agencies and public health departments.
According to the study, Covid-19 would have been identified in the 18 percent of cases reported in the UK. Specifically, it is established that 11 of the 97 minors admitted to hospitals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 while others three had cleared the infection eight weeks earlier of showing symptoms of hepatitis. While in Israel the relationship is still higher. According to the researchers, 11 of the 12 children diagnosed with acute hepatitis had had Covid-19 in previous monthss.
Immune activation by covid in acute hepatitis in children
As the researchers point out, majority of children with acute hepatitis They initially present with gastrointestinal symptoms and then progress to jaundice, which in some cases progresses to acute liver failure. “So far, no common environmental exposures have been found and an infectious agent remains the most plausible cause,” scientists explain.
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“Covid-19 generates a causal mechanism of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children that would give way to acute hepatitis” |
A process where previous infection by Covid-19 would cause the formation of a “viral reservoir”. “The viral persistence of the virus in the gastrointestinal tract can lead to the repeated release of viral proteins through the intestinal epithelium, which gives rise to a immune activation”, explains the study.
An “activation” that researchers consider to be a Causal mechanism of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in childrenwhich would give way to acute hepatitis, since diagnosed minors have this syndrome.
A viral reservoir for acute hepatitis in children
Given these correlations, the researchers hypothesize that cases of severe acute hepatitis in children of unknown origin might be a consequence of adenovirus infection “with intestinal trophism in children previously infected by covid and carriers of viral reservoirs”.
In addition, the researchers refer to other studies where the origin of the adenovirus f41 was linked as the possible cause of severe childhood hepatitis. However, they claim that “it has not been previously reported that the adenovirus 41 causes serious hepatitis.
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