“Very Unusual” Rise In Cases Of Severe Liver Damage Seen In Children Across UK, US, and Europe
April 18th, 2022Maybe they can push through some more experimental gene therapies to help with this…
Via: IFLScience:
An unusual rise in liver damage cases in children has been seen in the UK, US and Europe, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to closely monitor the situation.
On April 5, the WHO was informed of 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) in children under the age of 10 in Scotland. Three days later, it had received reports of 74 cases across the UK. Usually in Scotland, there are around 7-8 cases in a year in patients without underlying conditions. Similar cases have been reported in Alabama, with a few cases also being reported in Ireland and Spain.
“Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different,” Prof Graham Cooke, NIHR Research Professor of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, said in a statement. “Children are experiencing more severe inflammation, in a few cases leading the liver to fail and require transplantation.”
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The cause of the surge in cases is, as yet, not known. Hepatitis viruses A, B, C, E, and D have been ruled out by laboratory testing, while SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and/or adenoviruses have been detected in several cases, with the WHO noting that there has been an increase in adenovirus activity in the UK. Experts are split as to the cause of the disease, without enough data to go on as yet, though a virus of some description seems likely.
