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In Great Britain, experts are currently observing an unusual accumulation of acute hepatitis infections in children and adolescents up to the age of 16.
According to the British health authority, 74 cases have been investigated since January in which inflammation of the liver has been detected but no hepatitis viruses, which typically cause the disease, have been found.
The European health authority ECDC also provided information about the development and called on doctors in the EU to report similar cases to the health authorities.
Symptoms may include nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, yellowing of the skin, and fever.
Acute hepatitis is often caused by hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D or E, but infections with other viruses can also lead to the disease.
Alcohol or drug abuse can also be the cause.
According to experts, acute hepatitis is rare in children.
cause unclear
According to the ECDC, some of the children who fell ill in Great Britain developed acute liver failure and had to be treated in special units for children with liver disease.
A small number had had a liver transplant.
The cause of the illness is still unclear.
The corona virus has been detected in some children and adenoviruses in others.
However, there is currently no clear connection between the hepatitis cases and the infections
.
According to the British health authority, none of the children were vaccinated against the corona virus.
Meera Chand of the UK Health Authority said some possible causes of the children's hepatitis, including adenovirus infections, are being investigated.
These viruses can cause various symptoms, including typical cold symptoms.
Inflammation of the liver is a known but rare complication.
Connection with Corona not very plausible
The pediatric gastroenterologist and Secretary General of the German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Burkhard Rodeck, considers a connection with the corona virus to be theoretically conceivable, but not very plausible.
The corona tests carried out on the children would then have had to be positive more than accidentally.
"We've been in this pandemic for some time now, such cases of hepatitis would have been noticed before," he says.
It is more likely that with the easing in Great Britain, children and young people will suddenly be exposed to many germs with which they had not previously come into contact in such abundance due to various protective measures, and that the hepatitis cases can be traced back to such infections.
The number of cases from Great Britain would not necessarily worry him, but would make him aware.
»Corresponding observations in Germany are not yet known, but we are investigating this further.
We have to take that seriously,” says Rodeck.
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