Cases of hepatitis affecting children – the origin of which is unknown and which had already been identified in the United Kingdom – have been detected in four other European countries, announced on Tuesday April 19, the European Center for Prevention and disease control (ECDC).
“Following the cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin reported by the UK Health Security Agency [au début d’avril]other cases in children have been reported in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain”, said the European agency in a press release. Nine suspected cases have also been identified in children aged 1 to 6 in Alabama, United States, according to the ECDC.
“Investigations are continuing in all countries reporting cases. Currently, the exact cause of hepatitis remains unknown”writes the ECDC, but the British investigators “consider an infectious cause to be the most likely due to the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the cases”.
Not an “excess of cases in France”
In France, after the launch of a “active case finding”, “two cases of acute hepatitis whose etiology is still undetermined have been reported by the Lyon University Hospital” in children under 10 years of age and “are under investigation”said the Public Health Agency France, interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Cases of acute hepatitis of undetermined etiology in children are not uncommon. The occurrence of these two cases is not unexpected and does not reflect, at this stage, an excess of cases in France.we added from the same source, judging “other reports probably to be expected in the coming days” given the active research that has been launched.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it expected new reports in the coming days and had already reported “less than five” cases in Ireland and three in Spain. Contacted by AFP, the ECDC was unable to give the number of cases by country.
No deaths, signs of jaundice in UK
No deaths have been recorded, but some UK cases have required liver transplantation. “Laboratory investigations of the cases excluded viral hepatitis types A, B, C, D and E in all cases”according to the ECDC.
Initially, the United Kingdom had reported to the WHO, on April 5, ten cases of severe hepatitis in Scotland, before reporting a total of seventy-four, three days later, according to the UN organization. Among the UK cases, ” a lot (…) showed signs of jaundice”.
“Some of the cases presented with gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting in the previous weeks”according to the ECDC.