EU | Acute Hepatitis (Liver Disease) Cases Recorded In Children From 4 Countries
EU | Acute Hepatitis (Liver Disease) Cases Recorded In Children From 4 Countries
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The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), reported today, that cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin have been recorded in children in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, the only cases so far in the European Union (EU), informed to Lusa.
London, United Kingdom | Health officials say they have detected more cases of a mysterious liver disease in children that was first identified in Britain, with new infections spreading to Europe and the US.
“Following reports of cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin by the UK Health Safety Agency, additional cases have been reported in children in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain,” the ECDC said in a statement released today.
Last year, British authorities reported 74 cases of hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, found in children since January. The usual viruses that cause infectious hepatitis have not been seen in the cases, and scientists and doctors are considering other possible SOURCES, according to the AP.
Additional cases of hepatitis have been identified in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said in a statement on Tuesday, without specifying exactly how many cases were found, the Associated Press reported.
According to authorities from the EU and the US, there were also “nine cases of acute hepatitis reported in children aged between 1 and 6 years the state of Alabama, in the United States, who also tested positive for adenovirus”.
Explaining that investigations are ongoing in all countries that have reported cases, the ECDC notes that the “exact cause of hepatitis in these children remains unknown.”
“The team from the United Kingdom, where the majority of cases have occurred to date, consider that an infectious cause is most likely based on the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the cases under investigation”, he points out.
The European center is therefore working with other health bodies in these countries, as well as with the World Health Organization and other partners to support ongoing research.
Without indicating the total number of cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin registered in children in the EU, the ECDC adds that, in the case of the United Kingdom, dozens of situations have been verified so far in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the majority of these cases aged between 2 and 5 years.
It is certain that, in the United Kingdom, laboratory investigations of cases already carried out “exclude viral hepatitis types A, B, C, D and E in all cases and, of the 13 cases reported by Scotland for which there is detailed information on tests, three were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection (which causes covid-19), five were negative and two were documented as having had an infection in the three months prior to presentation”, concludes the European center.
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