In a latest update, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said at least 35 countries in five regions of the world have reported over 1,010 probable cases of unexplained severe acute hepatitis, or liver inflammation, in youngsters, since the outbreak was first detected on 5 April. The WHO reported that these regions witnessed probable cases of severe acute hepatitis among children including deaths.
"As of 8 July 2022, 35 countries in five WHO Regions have reported 1010 probable cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in children, which fulfill the WHO case definition, including 22 deaths. Since the previous Disease Outbreak News published on 24 June 2022, 90 new probable cases and four additional deaths have been reported to WHO," said the global health body in its update, according to news agency ANI report.
Two new countries including Luxembourg and Costa Rica have reported probable cases.
What are the regions witnessing the outbreak?
Apart from 22 deaths of children, almost half of the probable cases have been coming from Europe, where 21 countries have registered a total of 484 cases.
The cases include 272 in the United Kingdom, 27 per cent of the global total, followed by the Americas, whose regional total of 435 includes 334 cases in the United States. The US represents a third of cases worldwide. The other cases reported include the Western Pacific Region (70 cases), Southeast Asia (19) and the Eastern Mediterranean (two cases).
Around 17 nations have reported more than five probable cases, but the actual number of cases may be underestimated, in part owing to the limited enhanced surveillance systems in place, said WHO.
Going by the UN health agency's latest assessment, the risk of this paediatric hepatitis outbreak spreading is ‘moderate’.
What are the symptoms?
Based on 100 probable cases with available clinical data, the most commonly reported symptoms are nausea or vomiting (in 60 per cent of cases), jaundice (53 per cent), general weakness (52 per cent) and abdominal pain (50 per cent).
The average gap between the onset of symptoms and hospitalisation is seen as four days.
What is the infection detected?
The laboratory tests didn’t show the presence of hepatitis A to E in affected children. Other pathogens such as the coronavirus were detected in a number of cases, but the data is incomplete, the UN health agency noted.
It noted that Adenoviruses, reason behind a wide range of illnesses, such as cold, fever, sore throat and pneumonia, have remained "the most frequently detected pathogen" in cases of paediatric hepatitis, WHO said.
In Europe, adenovirus was detected by polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) in 52 per cent of the child hepatitis cases (193/368) so far. In Japan, it was found in just nine per cent of cases (5/58).
According to UN News, owing to limited adenovirus surveillance in most countries, it is quite possible that the true number of cases of child hepatitis is higher than currently known.