Symptoms of hepatitis in young children and how to protect your child?

What causes hepatitis in children? And what are its symptoms? What is the reason behind the mysterious wave of hepatitis that several countries are currently witnessing? And what are adenoviruses? What is its role in this current wave?

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert Wednesday to physicians across the country notifying them of a range of severe and unexplained cases of hepatitis in otherwise healthy young children, writes Catherine Pearson in The New York Times .

Between October 2021 and February 2022, nine children aged 1 to 6 years in Alabama were hospitalized with acute hepatitis, and two cases required liver transplants.

Similar cases have also appeared in North Carolina, as well as in Europe. The UK's Health Security Agency has reported more than 100 cases of sudden hepatitis B in children under the age of 10 since January 2022, 10 of which required liver transplants.

What is hepatitis?

Hepatitis is a broad term used to describe an inflammatory process in the liver, an organ that performs hundreds of essential functions every day, from aiding digestion to removing toxins from the blood. When the liver is inflamed or damaged, it is unable to perform many of these functions.

"Acute" hepatitis refers to inflammation that appears relatively quickly and does not last more than 6 months. It can be severe and lead to liver failure, as has been the case with many children in Alabama.

But hepatitis can also be relatively mild. Dr. Alexander Wyman, director of the Liver Center at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, explained that it is not uncommon for patients, especially children, to develop hepatitis in the context of a simple and uncomplicated viral illness.

Causes of hepatitis

According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, hepatitis in children can be caused by many things. Your child can get hepatitis as a result of exposure to the virus that causes it. These viruses may include:

-Hepatitis viruses There are 5 main types of hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E.

-Cytomegalovirus.

-Epstein-Barr vi virus.

-Herpes simplex virus. Herpes can affect the face, the skin above the waist, or the genitals.

-Varicella zoster virus - or chickenpox -. One of the complications of this virus is hepatitis. But this rarely happens in children.

-Enteroviruses. This is a group of viruses most often seen in children.

-German measles virus (chickenpox).

-Adenoviruses. This is a group of viruses that cause colds, tonsillitis, and ear infections in children. It can also cause diarrhea.

-Parvovirus.

Other conditions can also cause hepatitis in children, such as autoimmune diseases, in which your child's immune system produces antibodies that attack the liver. This causes inflammation that leads to hepatitis.

Symptoms of hepatitis in children

Symptoms of hepatitis are extensive and overlap with many common diseases. A child with hepatitis may have:

-Fever

-Exhaustion

-Joint or muscle pain

-Anorexia

-Nausea

-Diarrhea

-Vomiting

Abdominal pain, according to Dr. Wyman, children may suffer from special pain in the upper abdomen, where the liver is located, and it is important to seek urgent medical attention any time a child shows a sign of severe pain in his stomach. Doctors may consider other possible causes of abdominal pain, such as appendicitis.

Dark urine or pale or clay-colored stools.

Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin and eyes, is a hallmark of hepatitis, although it's possible to have hepatitis and not show signs of jaundice.

Causes of current hepatitis

Hepatitis can have many causes, from autoimmune diseases to side effects of some medications. It is often caused by one of the five hepatitis viruses that we talked about earlier.

Depending on the type, viral hepatitis can be spread through contact with blood and other body fluids or stool, or by eating raw or undercooked meat. But viral hepatitis has been excluded in recent pediatric cohorts in the United States and abroad.

Instead, the US Centers for Disease Control suspects adenovirus as the cause of the current cases.

In Alabama, nine children tested positive for adenovirus. Of the five cases that were genetically sequenced, all were infected with type 41 adenovirus, which commonly causes vomiting and diarrhea. The majority, if not all, of the infected children in Britain tested positive for adenovirus as well.

Dr Jennifer Leiter said: 'It is interesting that we only see this in children under the age of 10, which means that most people over the age of 10 have immunity to adenoviruses, and this may be why this hepatitis appears in young children. .

According to the World Health Organization, no common pathogens that cause acute viral hepatitis have been found, including hepatitis A, B, C and D viruses ( D) and "E" in any of the cases. No other risk factors have been identified, including links to infection while traveling. Additional tests for the source of infection, including exposure to certain chemicals and other toxins, are also conducted in the affected countries.

The World Health Organization has indicated that acute hepatitis is likely to be the result of an adenovirus infection, which is now often detectable thanks to tests. Adenovirus infections have recently risen after falling to low levels during the Covid pandemic, and young children are considered to be more susceptible.

Today is #WorldHepatitisDay.  Worldwide, 325 million people live with hepatitis B and C.  The World Health Organization is calling on all countries to work together to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, as a public health threat.  2020, WHO

What are adenoviruses?

Adenoviruses are common viruses that cause a range of illnesses, including cold-like symptoms, fever, sore throat, bronchitis, pneumonia and diarrhea, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are more than 50 types of adenovirus that can infect humans, and they commonly cause respiratory symptoms but can lead to gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis and bladder infections, according to an article by writer Kanoko Matsuyama published by the American " Bloomberg " website.

The author Matsuyama pointed out that these results were worrisome for experts, given that people infected with adenoviruses often recover naturally and are not as dangerous as the disease that appeared in these children. Type 41 adenovirus usually causes diarrhea, vomiting and fever, often with respiratory symptoms. It is not known to cause hepatitis in healthy children.

But doctors and health officials know that adenovirus infection can cause hepatitis. This is not new. What is unusual is that young, healthy children suddenly become ill.

What can parents do to protect their children from hepatitis?

Although health officials aren't sure that adenovirus causes recent hepatitis clusters, parents can take steps to prevent transmission.

Adenovirus spreads from person to person by respiratory droplets or by touching a surface with adenovirus on it. Children should be encouraged to wash their hands often and avoid touching their face and mouth as much as possible, in addition to many of the same measures that help prevent the spread of Corona.

Source : Al Jazeera + agencies + Bloomberg + WHO + New York Times