US warns of mysterious hepatitis cases in children

CDC requires parents and health care providers to note symptoms in their children and report all suspected cases of hepatitis to local and state health facilities.

CDC is working with state health units to see if there are more cases of hepatitis in the US. The agency continues to recommend that children get vaccinated again, parents and guardians take precautions such as washing hands frequently, avoiding contact with sick people, covering coughs and sneezes, avoiding touch your nose and mouth. The CDC said it will add more information as more data becomes available.

It’s been nearly six months since the World Health Organization (WHO) began investigating mysterious cases of hepatitis in children. Since October 21 of last year, the state of Alabama has reported nine cases in children aged 1 to 6 years, with no known cause. Similar patients were detected in many countries such as Scotland, England, Spain and Ireland.

The children were not infected with one of the five existing hepatitis viruses, A, B, C, D, E. Some of them had been infected with nCoV or adenovirus (a cold virus). Experts suspect the patient had Covid-19 or another infectious disease and then progressed to hepatitis, but they have not reached a definitive conclusion.

The first 5 children in Alabama were not hospitalized for Covid-19, showing significant liver damage, some of them with liver failure. After further investigation, the CDC found four other children with the same condition, who were infected with adenovirus 41, which can cause “acute gastroenteritis in children,” but not hepatitis.

According to Johns Hopkins University, hepatitis is a general term for inflammation of the liver. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

Researchers are still investigating, but have not been able to find a common cause of hepatitis in healthy children.

Thuc Linh (According to CBS News)