An additional death linked to cases of unexplained hepatitis in children has been reported in the United States, bringing the total to six deaths, announced on Friday the American health authorities, who indicated that they are now investigating a total of 180 cases.
A large part of the approximately 70 additional cases identified between the beginning of May and this week are not recent, they however underlined.
Many have actually been reported retrospectively.
The cause of these serious liver inflammations is still being sought by scientists, also indicated an official from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the country's main federal health agency.
“At this time, the leading hypothesis remains an important role played by adenovirus 41
,” said Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at CDC.
Adenoviruses are fairly common viruses, but have not previously been known to cause cases of hepatitis in healthy children.
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“However, we continue to examine several possible causes beyond the adenovirus, which includes the question of whether past infection with Sars-Cov-2 (the Covid-19 virus, editor’s note) could be contributing”
, he added.
Less than 20% of U.S. cases also show evidence of Covid-19 infection, Butler said.
Cases that remain
“rare”
Vaccines against Covid-19 have been dropped from the list of potential culprits because most children are not vaccinated, and are too young to be.
The median age of affected children is 2 years old.
The cases are scattered across the United States, and 15 required liver transplants.
Parents are encouraged to monitor any symptoms in their children (vomiting, dark urine, pale stools, jaundice, etc.), and to contact their doctor if they have any concerns.
But these cases remain “rare”, and “the data we have so far are reassuring”, underlined Jay Butler.
Paradoxically, no increase in the number of pediatric hepatitis has yet been detected compared to previous years, he explained.
Several hundred cases have been identified in all around the world, particularly in Europe.
The UK alone has counted 197 cases, and is also working to find the cause.
