MILOWOKY – The increase in severe hepatitis in children is keeping Wisconsin health officials on alert.
The Wisconsin Department of Health is investigating at least four cases of children, including one in need of a liver transplant and one who has died. The four children also tested positive for adenovirus, according to DHS.
“Hepatitis can be very severe,” said Dr. Greg DeMuri, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He specializes in children’s infectious diseases. “Hepatitis is a liver infection or inflammation of the liver and is most often caused by a virus.”
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This, doctors know. What they don’t know is why they see more hepatitis in children, probably related to adenovirus.
DeMuri described the adenovirus as a common cold. The specific type potentially associated with recent cases of hepatitis, adenovirus 41, often causes gastrointestinal problems. He said it had been known in the past to cause hepatitis.
“It’s really rare and I’ve only seen a few cases,” he said, adding that it’s usually in children with weakened immune systems. “What is really new about this is that it infects healthy children and there seems to be more of it than we would expect.
According to a health warning from the DHS of Wisconsin, the agency began its own investigation after learning about a group of nine children in Alabama with significant liver damage who also tested positive for adenovirus. Three ended up with acute liver failure and two necessary liver transplants. All the children had been healthy before.
As of April 21, the World Health Organization reported 169 cases of acute hepatitis in children from 12 countries of unknown origin. The WHO reports that in 10% of cases, children needed a liver transplant.
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“Not everyone who has hepatitis would normally get tested for adenovirus, but now clinicians need to know how to do it,” DeMuri said.
DHS has issued a health network signal so clinicians can test and report. DeMuri said some of his colleagues at the university were also looking for ways to go deeper than normal blood tests to get to the cause.
“We need to know: is this a mutated virus, an option if you want one that is more infectious and more likely to cause a liver infection, or is it just a coincidence?” Demuri said. “It doesn’t look like hepatitis A, B or C – some of the other letter-related hepatitis viruses, as we call them. They are excluded. Outbreaks of hepatitis A are well known and something we can deal with. There is a vaccine for them. But this is not related to any of these viruses. “
Wisconsin Department of Health DHS
Demuri said most of the anxiety at the moment came from the unknown.
“If you’re the average parent in Wisconsin, I’d say you do some things that are smart to make sure your kids are healthy, but I don’t think you need to put yourself so high on your radar for things that cause concern.” ” he said.
Along with monitoring children for hepatitis symptoms, including jaundice, fever, fatigue and intestinal problems, Demuri said it was important to inform children about hepatitis A and B vaccines.
The Milwaukee Department of Health has said it expects more information from the state as it learns more.
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