Several factors would be responsible for this disease which killed 22 children in the world.
We know more about the causes of the unexplained increase in cases of hepatitis of unknown origin occurring in children in recent months. More of 1,000 cases have been identified in 35 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), causing 22 deaths. The majority of affected children are under the age of six, and some 5% of them have required liver transplants.
On Monday, scientists brought a new light on the causes of this mysterious childhood hepatitis through two studies carried out in the UK and Scotland, which have not yet been peer-reviewed and reported by West France.
Covid-19, other virus, containment…
First, they concluded thata Covid-19 infection was not responsible for the disease since the coronavirus was not detected in the livers of the sick children studied. Similarly, the proportion of them with antibodies against Covid-19 was similar to that of children not affected by these hepatitis.
Then, these studies designate another culprit virus : a common virus called AAV2 (adeno-associated virus 2), detected at high levels in sick children but not known to cause disease. Researchers think that co-infection with an adenovirus and this AAV2 virus is the best explanation for these cases of hepatitis.
But the study also establishes that the confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic would have led to these multiple infections. So during the time they were housebound, the children weren’t in contact with common viruses, like the adenoviruses that tend to cause colds and gastrointestinal problems, or with AAV2, which tends to replicate from multiple infection. Their immune system was then not prepared to fight them when the restrictions are lifted.
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