Mysterious Hepatitis Cases Reported in Young Children

Officials have ruled out known hepatitis viruses as the cause of a rash of illnesses in Europe and the US.

On April 5, public health officials in Scotland notified the World Health Organization of 10 cases of severe hepatitis—liver inflammation—in children under the age of 10 years old, according to a WHO press release. Within three days, 74 cases had been identified throughout the United Kingdom. All of the children were admitted to and diagnosed in the hospital. As of April 12, none of the children had died, but some were severely ill. Seven have had to receive liver transplants.

“This is a severe phenomenon,” Deirdre Kelly, a pediatric hepatologist at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in England, tells Science. “These [were] perfectly healthy children . . . up to a week ago. Most of [the children] recover on their own,” Kelly notes. According to New Scientist, doctors in the UK have been advised to watch out for children age under age 16 who

have symptoms of hepatitis, which include jaundice (a yellowish tinge to the skin), discoloration of the urine or feces, itchy skin, fever, nausea, and abdominal pain.

On April 14, the Centers for

Disease Control (CDC) reported that nine cases of hepatitis have been identified in children ages one to six in Alabama since last fall. Two of the nine needed liver transplants, Science reports. In a statement issued to STAT, the CDC says it’s working with the Alabama Department of Public Health and other state departments to investigate the cause of the outbreak. STAT reports that the Alabama public health department issued an alert to doctors in early February that mentioned a case in another state, but the alert did not give details.