Mystery hepatitis cases in kids linked to unexpected viral suspect

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U.K. researchers think a virus called adeno-associated virus 2—one thought to be completely harmless—could help explain mysterious cases of acute hepatitis that have hospitalized hundreds of children.

—and media—attention. Most would recover, some after liver transplants, but a few died. Physicians could find no evidence in the children of the standard viruses that caused their hepatitis, but researchers homed in on an unexpected suspect: adenovirus, a family of cold-causing viruses common in kids. Now, a sweeping genetic search of these patients instead implicates another virus, one thought to be completely harmless.

Severe hepatitis in children is rare and often goes unexplained. But alarm bells went off in the spring after hospitals in the United Kingdom reported a rise in cases—now up to 272—that are not linked to the usual causes, such as hepatitis A, B, or C virus. Another 334 such unexplained cases have been reported in the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionStill, a spring spike in adenovirus infections in the United Kingdom lent credibility to a hepatitis surge there.

Some of the hepatitis patients also had adenovirus, usually the 41 type. But this virus also turned up in the controls, which included healthy children and children with hepatitis for other reasons. The authors of the preprints also ruled out SARS-CoV-2, an early suspect, partly because its infection rates weren’t higher than average in the Scottish cases.

The researchers found no AAV2 proteins or actual copies of the virus in patients’ liver cells. That suggests instead of directly damaging liver cells, AAV2 may provoke an immune response that harms the organ.

 

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Is this a result of the covid vaccinations? Genetics? Why a Big breakout?

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