Experts believe they have discovered the cause of mysterious childhood hepatitis

Two teams of British scientists have expressed confidence in their ability to identify the causes of pediatric hepatitis that has already infected more than 1,000 children worldwide, including 22 deaths.

This outbreak of hepatitis, which causes hepatitis, was first detected on April 5 this year and has now spread to 35 countries, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO). The cause of the injury has not yet been officially determined, but we may be closer to the answer.

Scientists from London and Glasgow, UK, have revealed that the infection is due to the fact that many children, who were in confinement due to the Covid-19 epidemic, have not yet acquired immunity to adenoviruses and related viruses.

“During the confinement period when the children were not together, they were not transmitting viruses to each other,” explains Judith Brewer, a virologist and one of the researchers on the London team. This means that children have not developed their immune systems to fight off “common infections that they would normally encounter”.

And the scientist adds that “when the restrictions were lifted, the children began to mix and the viruses began to spread freely,” which led to “they suddenly being exposed to [a vírus] with weak prior immunity to a variety of new infections.”

On the other hand, Glasgow team leader Emma Thompson cautioned that there are still many unanswered questions and that “larger studies are urgently needed to investigate the role of AAV2”. [vírus adeno-associado] In cases of hepatitis in children.

“We also need a better understanding of the seasonal circulation of AAV2, a virus that is not frequently monitored,” explains Emma Thompson, adding that “it is possible that a sharp rise in adenovirus infection coincides with a rise in exposure to AAV2, resulting in the condition Unusual manifestation of hepatitis in susceptible children.

At the end of June, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) reported that between April 28 and June 24 there were “17 probable cases of juvenile idiopathic hepatitis” in Portugal.

Some symptoms of childhood hepatitis include vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dehydration, and jaundice (which causes yellowing of the skin or eyes).