Health authorities say they have detected more cases of a mysterious liver disease in children that was first identified in Britain, and cases are spreading across Europe and the United States.
Last week, British officials reported 74 cases of hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, detected in children since January. In most cases, the viruses that commonly cause infectious hepatitis have not been detected, and scientists and doctors are considering other possible sources, including COVID-19, other viruses, and environmental factors.
In a statement on Tuesday, the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said additional cases of hepatitis had been identified in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, but did not give an exact number. In addition, they noted that US officials found nine cases of acute hepatitis in Alabama in children between the ages of 1 and 6.
“Mild hepatitis is very common in children after a series of viral infections, but what you are seeing now is very different,” said Graham Cooke, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. In Britain, some cases have required specific treatment in liver units and a few have required a transplant.
Cooke was not convinced that COVID-19 was the cause.
“If hepatitis was a consequence of COVID, it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high incidence of (coronavirus) right now,” he added.
“Currently, the exact cause of hepatitis in these children remains unknown,” the European CDC said.
British scientists had previously said that one of the causes they are investigating is adenoviruses, a family of common viruses that are often responsible for diseases such as conjunctivitis, sore throats or diarrhoea. US officials said nine children who tested positive for acute hepatitis in Alabama also tested positive for adenovirus.
Some doctors have pointed out that adenoviruses are so common in children that the mere fact of finding them in patients with hepatitis does not mean that they are responsible for that ailment.
The British health authorities ruled out any relationship with the COVID-19 vaccines, claiming that none of those affected were immunized.
The World Health Organization, for its part, stressed that although there has been an increase in adenoviruses in Britain, which are spreading at the same time as COVID-19, their possible role in hepatitis cases is unclear. Some of the minors tested positive for the coronavirus, but the WHO noted that a genetic analysis of the virus is needed to determine if the cases are related.
Furthermore, he noted that no other link had been found between the British cases and that none of them had recently traveled abroad. Laboratory tests are being done to determine if the cause could be a chemical or a toxin.
According to the WHO, in Ireland there are less than five possible cases, as well as another three confirmed in Spain among children between 22 and 13 years old.
The United Nations health agency said that, given the increase in cases in the past month and increased surveillance, it was “very likely” that more cases would be detected before the cause of the outbreak was identified.
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