Cases of severe hepatitis in children reported in several countries

An Indian child poses next to a representation of the hepatitis virus (illustrative image).

PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

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The UK has reported the highest number of cases.

Ireland, Spain, the United States, among others, have also identified a few cases.

No deaths were reported, but some children required transplantation.

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The United Kingdom was the first to alert the World Health Organization.

Since the end of March, 74 cases of serious hepatitis of unexplained origin have been identified there, mainly in children under 10 years old.

Six of them had to receive a transplant.

Other countries, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, are reporting higher than usual numbers of these severe liver inflammations in children.

Same in Alabama, USA. 

In all these children, there is no trace of known viral hepatitis,

The most frequent symptoms are not atypical: yellowing of the eyes and skin, stomach aches, vomiting, or abnormal tiredness.

Mysterious cases

To this day, the origin of these cases remains a mystery.

Some of the British children affected had Covid-19, others were carriers of an adenovirus, a type of respiratory virus, which can in very rare cases cause hepatitis.

These two avenues are explored.

Nor do scientists rule out a food or environmental origin.

The search for the causes of these hepatitis is the subject of an active investigation, underlines the World Health Organization which said on Friday that it expected new reports in the coming days and had already reported " 

 cases in Ireland and three in Spain.

► To listen also: Priority health - Liver diseases

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