Health authorities in the United States continue to investigate the causes of the outbreak of hepatitis cases among children with adenovirus infections.
In a notice this Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Diseases (CDC) alerted health providers and public officials in that branch about the emergence of cases.
The CDC recommended that medical personnel consider testing children with hepatitis for adenovirus when the cause has not been defined. Experts also suggest testing the blood itself, not just the blood plasma.
The notice details that a possible association between pediatric hepatitis and adenovirus infection is currently under investigation.
Last week, health officials in the US and the UK informed that they started an investigation into severe cases of hepatitis in children.
By that date, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified 74 cases among children in the UK. While health authorities in Alabama identified nine cases of minors, between the ages of 1 to 6, who have also tested positive for adenovirus since October, the CNN network report specifies.
Based on this information, CDC asked health center providers and public agency health officials to report cases of children of 10 years or less who have been diagnosed with hepatitis due to unknown causes since that month.
“In November of 2021, staff at a large Alabama hospital notified the CDC of five pediatric patients with significant liver injuries, including three with severe liver failure who also tested positive for adenovirus. All the children were previously healthy,” the report states. “Case-finding efforts at this hospital identified four additional cases of patients with hepatitis and adenovirus infection for a total of nine patients admitted between October 2021 through February 2022; the five that we tested had adenovirus infection type 41“, details the CDC.
Hepatitis is an infection of the liver, the organ that processes nutrients and helps prevent infection. If the liver is inflamed or affected, it impacts these functions.
Hepatitis is usually caused by a virus, and adenoviruses are types of viruses that spread from person to person. However, they are rarely the cause of severe hepatitis in healthy people.
Child caregivers should be aware of symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, abdominal and muscle pain and fever to go to medical centers for a diagnosis.