‘Unusual and worrying’ but experts stress the proportion of hepatitis cases in children remains very small across UK
Experts have described the outbreak of hepatitis in children under the age of ten as “unusual and worrying”.
But while it is very serious for those youngsters who have had to undergo liver transplants, it is worth stressing that case numbers in the overall population are very small.
Fewer than 10 per cent of confirmed cases have received transplants, and 108 confirmed infections is a tiny proportion of that age group.
With several countries worldwide now reporting cases, teams of scientists in the UK, US and at the World Health Organisation are working on identifying a cause for the outbreak.
The leading hypothesis is adenovirus, which is a very common cold virus. For most people, including children, adenovirus does not cause serious illness. The UKHSA has advised that people observe normal hygiene measures such as thorough hand washing and disposing of tissues if they have a cold.
While one potential cause – a new variant of adenovirus –
may sound alarming, it is not uncommon for the genomes of viruses to mutate: Sarscov2, the virus that causes Covid-19, has evolved many times since it first emerged more than two years ago.
However, unlike Covid, which is an RNA virus, adenovirus is a DNA virus – and therefore tends to evolve more slowly.
Prof Sheila Bird, former programme leader at the MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, said the proportion of children needing liver transplants, while a minority, was still “notable”.
In a normal year, clinicians would expect to see 11 “superurgent” – that is, due to sudden onset of disease – liver transplants in children. The fact there have been eight so far in 2022 is clearly a concern.
The good news is that doctors and parents will now be alert to any symptoms in children and treatments can be given rapidly if they become very ill.
Parents have been advised to look out for symptoms of hepatitis including, dark urine, pale, grey-coloured poo, itchy skin, yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice), muscle and joint pain, a high temperature, feeling and being sick, feeling unusually tired all the time, loss of appetite and stomach pain.