THE mystery hepatitis outbreak has started spreading across Europe and the US, after dozens of cases were found in the UK.
It is still not clear what has sparked the dangerous infection to rise in children in recent weeks.
So far 74 infections have been reported in the UK, with three in Spain, five in Ireland, and at least nine being probed in Alabama, US.
Doctors in Denmark and the Netherlands have also reported similar cases, but with no official numbers released.
The World Health Organisation has warned “given the increases in cases over the past one month”, more are “likely”.
Eight children are currently known to have had liver transplants after becoming severely ill with the illness – six in the UK and two in the US.
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The ages of ill kids in Spain range from 22 months to a 13-year-old, with the majority of unwell children in the UK between two and five years old.
Hepatitis can, in serious cases, lead to liver failure and experts have not yet pinned down the reason for the mysterious outbreak.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are urgently investigating a range of causes for the outbreak – such as adenoviruses, Covid-19, other infections and environmental causes.
The WHO is also closely monitoring cases that have been detected across all four nations.
On April 5, the WHO was told about 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis in youngsters in Scotland.
Three days later the organisation said it had been notified about 74 cases across the UK.
Now, more cases are popping up all over the world, with some experts saying a few of the children had recently been infected with Covid.
While the experts are investigating possible ties to the virus, officials said there is “no link” to vaccines as the children diagnosed with hepatitis did not have a jab.
Lab tests have excluded hepatitis type A, B, C, and E viruses in these cases, WHO said, and further tests for additional infections, chemicals and toxins are under way.
Adenoviruses are also being investigated and these are a group of viruses that cause a range of mild illnesses and most people recover without any complications.
If you have caught a virus like this then you will likely experience symptoms such as colds, sickness and diarrhoea.
The viruses don’t causes hepatitis, but are a known side effect.
As more cases of hepatitis have been identified, parents of young children have been urged to watch out for the key signs of the illness.
The 10 main hepatitis symptoms are:
- dark urine
- pale, grey-coloured poo
- itchy skin
- yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
- muscle and joint pain
- a high temperature
- feeling and being sick
- feeling unusually tired all the time
- loss of appetite
- tummy pain
Prof Graham Cooke, NIHR Research Professor of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, said: “Mild hepatitis is very common in children following a range of viral infections, but what is being seen at the moment is quite different.
“Children are experiencing more severe inflammation, in a few cases leading the liver to fail and require transplantation.
“From the information in the public domain, it’s hard to know the most likely cause.
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“If the hepatitis was a result of COVID it would be surprising not to see it more widely distributed across the country given the high prevalence of SARSCoV2 at the moment.
“Clinicians need to be on the look-out for unusual hepatitis and discuss cases to their local public health team.”
