- CDC Pediatric Affairs says
Hepatitis Spread through Europe is now being investigated in 24 US states and Puerto Rico. - At least 5 children have died in the US and 109 are sick.
A mysterious outbreak of pediatric hepatitis in very young children has turned fatal in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday.
CDC’s deputy director of infectious diseases, Dr. Jay Butler told reporters on a call that the agency is investigating 109 uncommon hepatitis cases in 24 states, as well as Puerto Rico.
At least five of those cases have been fatal, and 14% have required a liver transplant, indicating how serious these cases can be, although they are still fairly rare.
24 states where hepatitis cases have been reported so far
The CDC says it is tracking and investigating cases in children under the age of 10 that have occurred “in the past seven months”:
- alabama
- Arizona
- california
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- louisiana
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New York
- ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- Wisconsin.
‘It’s still early days’ to determine cause, but experts rule out COVID-19 vaccines
More than half of children in the US had an adenovirus infection when they contracted inflammation of their liver, suggesting that there may be some kind of viral trigger for this hepatitis, but it is still unclear what causes these cases. What is the reason. On Friday, the UK’s Health Protection Agency issued a technical briefing, saying “the leading hypotheses are those involving adenovirus.”
Most of the 163 mysterious hepatitis cases under investigation in the UK have also tested positive for adenovirus:
Nevertheless, the UK HSA said, “we continue to investigate the possible role of SARS-CoV-2″. [the virus that causes COVID-19]And to work on rejecting any toxic ingredient.”
Like the UK HSA, the CDC said it is possible environmental factors, medications, or other non-adenovirus infections (such as COVID-19 infection) may play a role.
“It’s still early days to figure out the cause,” Dr. Umesh Parashar, CDC’s chief of viral diseases, said on the call.
But, “COVID-19 vaccination does not cause these diseases,” Butler said.
This is because most of these children are still too young to be vaccinated against COVID, with an average age of only two years.
In Alabama where the first nine confirmed cases in the US were identified, no children had a documented history of COVID-19 infection, and none were ill with COVID during their hospitalization. The CDC said most children who have been diagnosed with this dangerous but rare hepatitis in the past seven months have made a full recovery.
Mike Leonis, a Cleveland Clinic Children’s pediatrician who has been in practice for two decades, told Insider that the number of patients who tested positive for adenovirus was
“I’m not hearing anything to suggest that it spreads rapidly and it’s really, really serious,” he said.
Often, Leonis explained, doctors are ultimately not able to pinpoint the exact cause of many cases of severe hepatitis in children.
He said, “At times, the child I’m seeing in the intensive care unit, who we’re considering for a liver transplant, had two siblings with him who got a cold, and the other two are fine. ” “Is it because they had another virus on board? Is it because they had a different combination of genes that made their immune system behave differently? Is it because they were on a different drug that caused them His liver was driven to be more sensitive? We really don’t know.”
Beware of yellowing of the whites of the eyes, and wash your hands frequently
The CDC is urging doctors, parents, and caregivers to see:
- vomit
- dark urine
- light colored stools
- Jaundice (yellowing of the white part of the baby’s eyes and yellowing of the skin.)
These are all signs that a child may have hepatitis.
In terms of prevention, basic hygiene measures are recommended. Adenoviruses, like other viruses, are spread from person to person by air, and also through the fecal-oral route. Washing hands before eating or handling food, and after changing a diaper, going to the bathroom, or touching a sharp tissue are all important. Masks help too.
“It’s so easy to forget,” Leonis said. “I can imagine a busy daycare center, you have three kids who need to change their diapers. So you might think, ‘Oh, my hands are clean, because I didn’t get dirty at baby number one.’ And you move on to baby number two. No, no, no.”
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