In a health consultation Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned health care providers and public health authorities about the investigation and advised providers to consider testing for adenovirus in children with hepatitis when the cause is unknown, adding that a blood test in general – – not just blood plasma – may be more sensitive.
The council noted that “a possible link between pediatric hepatitis and adenoviral infection is currently being investigated.”
Last week, public health officials in the United States and the United Kingdom announced that they had launched an investigation into cases of severe acute hepatitis in children. At that time, the World Health Organization had identified 74 cases among children in the United Kingdom, and Alabama health officials had identified nine cases of hepatitis in children aged 1 to 6 who were also positive for adenovirus since October. None of the children had Covid-19.
In its latest health council, the CDC asked health care providers or public health authorities to alert the agency to any child under the age of 10 who may have been diagnosed with hepatitis for some unknown reason since October.
“In November 2021, clinicians at a large children’s hospital in Alabama notified the CDC of five pediatric patients with significant liver damage, including three with acute liver failure, who also tested positive for adenovirus. All the children were healthy before, “CDC officials wrote. Efforts to find cases at this hospital identified four additional pediatric patients with hepatitis and adenovirus infection for a total of nine patients admitted from October 2021 to February 2022; and the five that were sequenced identified type 41 adenovirus infection.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, a vital organ that processes nutrients, filters the blood and helps fight infections. When the liver is inflamed or damaged, its function may be affected.
Hepatitis is most often caused by a virus, and adenoviruses are a common type of virus transmitted from person to person that can cause a number of mild to severe illnesses. But these viruses are rarely reported as a cause of severe hepatitis in healthy people.
The CDC said in the consultation that “While there have been reports of hepatitis in children with weakened immune systems infected with type 41 adenovirus, it is not known that type 41 adenovirus is the cause of hepatitis in otherwise healthy children.”
“This is not a common performance, not at all,” said Dr. Ashlisha Kaushik, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. – This is quite surprising.
Child caregivers should be alert to symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting. If the child has abdominal pain or develops fever, fatigue or muscle aches, he should be examined by a doctor. Symptoms of jaundice – including yellow eyes, dark urine or light stools – are physical signs of a liver problem.
To avoid adenovirus, Kaushik said, parents should urge their children to wash their hands regularly and thoroughly.
There is no vaccine against adenoviruses in children. Adenoviruses tend to linger on surfaces, she said, and alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t work well against them.
“Great hand washing with soap and water is the best thing,” Kaushik said. “Keep your distance from anyone who suffers from coughing and sneezing, and teach your children to cough or sneeze up their sleeves.” Essentially, she said, keep up with all the good habits people have learned to prevent Covid. -19.
As the adenovirus has a gastrointestinal component, she also advises parents and adults in day care centers to be careful about their own hand hygiene after changing diapers.
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