Acute severe Hepatitis in Children, theories as to causation

[Oldman too]

Summary: Recent world wide acute hepatitis outbreak in children and possible etiology.

I've watched these cases with much interest lately, particularly since some of the possible vectors are being studied and identified.

As the theories are being explored as to the cause, or causes of the outbreak, I'm interested in, if the "Covid isolation theory" mentioned has much traction in the world wide medical community.

From: https://www.theguardian.com/society...22-causes-mystery-cases-in-children-explainer
"Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Andrea Ammon, told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday that another hypothesis being investigated is whether lockdowns may have weakened children’s immunity due to lower exposure to pathogens."
Not certain if the conference link copied correctly, if not here's a backup link.

The outbreak seems to be spreading rapidly throughout the world with a few notable exceptions, the Uk being the worst hit so far.

Although the Adenovirus connection does seem a possible link, it seems likely there will prove to be contributing factors involved.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON376
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/liver-disease-mystery-1.6431872
https://www.reuters.com/business/he...-hepatitis-children-reported-ecdc-2022-04-26/

Thanks, Scott

 

[Astronuc]

In the US, Acute Hepatitis and Adenovirus Infection Among Children — Alabama, October 2021–February 2022 Early Release / April 29, 2022 / 71

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7118e1.htm?s_cid=mm7118e1_w

A week earlier, CDC Alerts Providers to Hepatitis Cases of Unknown Origin
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0421-hepatitis-alert.html

 

[Oldman too]

A somewhat dated but thorough report from the UK.
https://assets.publishing.service.g...8/acute-hepatitis-technical-briefing-1_4_.pdf

Here in the US, the statistics are looking worse.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/06/health/hepatitis-kids-cdc-update/index.html

"The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it's investigating 109 cases of severe and unexplained hepatitis in children in 25 states and territories that may be linked to a worldwide outbreak.
Among them, 14% needed transplants, and five children have died.
Nearly all the children -- more than 90% -- needed to be hospitalized."

 

[jim mcnamara]

The reason for this comment is that some news sources are trying to finger point at a cause:
Adenovirus 41 has been reported in somepatients, so some people may think that it represents a cause. As research stands at the moment (2022/5/7) it is not very good evidence for causation. Adenovirus 41 (and some other Adenovirus quasispecies) are a common cause of diarrhea in children. New research may change this view on a cause.

Just a quick comment.

 

[Oldman too]

The reason for this comment is that some news sources are trying to finger point at a cause:
Adenovirus 41 has been reported in somepatients, so some people may think that it represents a cause. As research stands at the moment (2022/5/7) it is not very good evidence for causation. Adenovirus 41 (and some other Adenovirus quasispecies) are a common cause of diarrhea in children. New research may change this view on a cause.

Just a quick comment.

I do hate to cite a news production when it comes to details, I'm not finding much current info (not even on the CDC site) so I settled on CNN (whom ironically is quoting the CDC). Selling news must pay better than selling facts.

I do agree with you on the Adenovirus 41 causation theory, people (especially news writers) always seem to look for "the cause", rather than "the causations". I read that in many cases the children are immunocompromised, that, if proven to be a factor, combined with any of the other possible causes could make for a very complex puzzle. Hopefully, new research will put together the pieces of the puzzle quickly.

At this point, it has all the appearances of comorbidity rather than a single cause, that's just a thought but I'd be surprised if the cause is a single element rather than a combination of factors.
On the bright side, I did hear that Covid vaccine was finally officially ruled out as a cause...

 

[Oldman too]

No smoking gun yet, but this might be on the right track.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/langas/PIIS2468-1253(22)00166-2.pdf

 

[Astronuc]

The two teams of researchers, from London and Glasgow, say infants exposed later than normal - because of Covid restrictions - missed out on some early immunity to:

• adenovirus, which normally causes colds and stomach upsets
• adeno-associated virus two (AAV2), which normally causes no illness and requires a coinfecting "helper" virus - such as adenovirus - to replicate

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61269586

Prof Emma Thomson, who led the University of Glasgow research, said there were still many unanswered questions. "Larger studies are urgently needed to investigate the role of AAV2 in paediatric hepatitis cases.

"We also need to understand more about seasonal circulation of AAV2, a virus that is not routinely monitored - it may be that a peak of adenovirus infection has coincided with a peak in AAV2 exposure, leading to an unusual manifestation of hepatitis in susceptible young children."