Health Hepatitis Cases in Kids Around the World Have Scientists Hunting for Answers

[tom_mai78101]

In January 2022, doctors in Scotland noticed a worrying trend: a scattering of cases of severe hepatitis in kids between 1 and 5 years old. The children were presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms—abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting—followed by the onset of jaundice. To see such acute hepatitis (a broad term that essentially describes inflammation of the liver) in young, previously healthy children was highly unusual—and a cause for concern.

By April 5, the Scottish health authorities had recorded 11 cases. Unable to pin down their cause, they notified the World Health Organization, kicking off a global investigation that has left health authorities searching for answers.

Cases were immediately picked up across Europe— in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Romania, and Spain—as well as in Israel and the US. On April 12, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control instructed its hepatitis network to keep an eye out for further cases fitting the description. Since then, case counts have continued growing. The UK has now reached a total of 114 cases, with 10 children requiring a liver transplant. In total, at least 190 cases have been logged in at least 12 countries. One child has died.

But experts still aren’t sure what is responsible for these cases.

Hepatitis can be caused by exposure to a toxin or a drug (an overdose of Paracetamol can trigger liver damage, for instance). But toxicology screenings haven’t turned up anything that looks like a probable explanation.

Hepatitis Cases in Kids Have Scientists Hunting for Answers

Young children across the world are inexplicably coming down with the liver illness, putting parents and doctors on alert.

www.wired.co.uk

Another pandemic in the making?

 

[tom_mai78101]

Mystery liver disease kills three more children after "unexpected significant increase" in cases reported


Three children in Indonesia have died from a mysterious liver disease, the country's health ministry said, raising to at least four the global death toll of a fatal ailment puzzling doctors from the U.S. to Asia.

This severe strain of acute hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks — raising concerns from the World Health Organization (WHO) of the disease's "unknown origin."

The symptoms afflicting the children include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain — before their livers showed signs of inflammation. At least one death was previously reported by WHO.

Indonesia's Health Ministry said Monday in a statement that three children had died in hospitals in the capital Jakarta last month, after displaying some of these symptoms.

The children also had fever, jaundice, convulsions and loss of consciousness, it said.

"At the moment, the Health Ministry is investigating the cause of the acute hepatitis by running a full panel of virus tests," it said.

Mystery liver disease kills three more children after "unexpected significant increase" in cases reported

This severe strain of acute hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[The Helper]

'They're still coming': More cases of unusual liver damage in kids reported

Doctors at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio say they have treated at least six cases of severe hepatitis in previously healthy young children aged 18 months through 10 years. One required a liver transplant.

These cases add to a growing number of puzzling reports of young children worldwide who are developing acute hepatitis without a known cause.

Dr. Jorge Bezerra, director of the Pediatric Liver Care Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said that his team has seen an increasing number of such patients since December.

"We have seen six," Bezerra told NBC News Wednesday. "Today, we're going to be seeing a seventh patient," he said. "They're still coming." The children treated for the liver disease at Cincinnati Children's are all from Ohio.

'They're still coming': Cases of unusual liver damage in kids on the rise in the U.S.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital has treated at least six otherwise healthy children with sudden hepatitis, adding to the more than 200 cases reported worldwide.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[The Helper]

Another 36 cases of mysterious hepatitis have been recorded in children less than 10 years old, after six died in the U.S. outbreak

Another 36 cases of mysterious pediatric hepatitis in children aged 10 or younger, health chiefs revealed Wednesday — after six deaths were reported in the outbreak.

It brings the tally of children affected by the liver inflammation to 216 across 37 states, with Mississippi and Utah the latest to be added to the growing list.

No new deaths or liver transplants were reported in the last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in their weekly update with the totals remaining at 14 and six respectively.

The agency has refused to reveal where the deaths have occurred sighting 'confidentiality issues', but at least one was registered in Wisconsin health chiefs in the state say.

THIRTY-SIX more cases of hepatitis recorded, but no new deaths

A total of 216 children have now been struck down with the illness across 37 states, with Mississippi and Utah the latest to be added to the growing list.

www.dailymail.co.uk