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Original poster

Hepatitis outbreak in children

374 replies

MumbleCrumbs · 15/04/2022 22:07

I'm currently really quite unwell with Covid and not sleeping very well so please be gentle, but is anyone else really worried about the reports of this hepatitis outbreak in children now being monitored by the WHO? It seems to have gained traction over the last few days and lots of reports coming out about it now. I know very little about hepatitis but I know its quite rare to see such severe cases in children. Could Covid be the cause? I'm just feeling really quite worried about it and so sad for these poor children and their families, how horrendous after we've all just come through a pandemic Sad.

OP posts:
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Original poster
MumbleCrumbs · 16/04/2022 09:33

A lot more news about this this morning also. I hope they find out what's causing it soon. None of the children were vaccinated apparently and if it was Covid wouldn't we have seen this spike before now?

OP posts:
Windflower92 · 16/04/2022 09:35

Was literally just looking for a thread on this! What type of hepatitis is it? I'm seeing lots of articles but still don't feel like I understand what's happening. Are the cases close together location-wise? How is it being spread?

Duracellbunnywannabe · 16/04/2022 09:39

It’s common for a very, very small % of people to be left with long term side effects from random viruses but unless their has been a pandemic then the virus causes such a small number of people with longterm effects that it’s impossible to see a pattern. It’s doesn’t mean that covid is more likely to cause long term problems it’s just that it’s suddenly effecting lots of people at once so rather than it been a couple of isolated cases with no obvious causes there is a pattern.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Covid-19 General health
CormoranStrike · 16/04/2022 09:42

**
Was literally just looking for a thread on this! What type of hepatitis is it? I'm seeing lots of articles but still don't feel like I understand what's happening. Are the cases close together location-wise? How is it being spread?**

Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver - it is not hepatitis in a sense of B, C etc.

I know a lot of the cases are in Scotland, and one child has had to have a liver transplant.

Original poster
MumbleCrumbs · 16/04/2022 09:55

Apparently there is one case where two children who had it were in contact with each other too. All so strange and worrying Sad.

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nocoolnamesleft · 16/04/2022 18:58

Some of the cases there was covid, but not clear if that's just because so many children currently have covid. Some there was adenovirus found. Most of the children definitely too young to have been vaccinated. Lots of samples being sent off to try to identify possible viral triggers. Rapid ramping up of national research project to try to figure this out.

ComDummings · 16/04/2022 19:00

From what I read adenovirus is a suspected cause.

ratspeaker · 16/04/2022 20:53

From what I’ve seen so far they’ve not identified a link between cases.
It’s not hepatitis A, B, C, D or E.
No link found to covid vaccine
49 cases in England
13 cases in Scotland
12 in Northern Ireland.

I’m not sure if there are cases are reported elsewhere in the world.

Very puzzling.
Rather worrying.

Motherofplants · 16/04/2022 21:23

Alabama, US too. 9 cases since Autumn according to some reports.

picklemewalnuts · 16/04/2022 21:26

I'm glad someone's posting about this. It's concerning. Great, however, that we have a healthcare system that notices such anomalies.

AnIckabog · 16/04/2022 21:31

I'm sure I read somewhere that they had found some evidence - not conclusive but some initial evidence - that covid is another virus that can cause hepatitis, like adenoviruses. That is also the most obvious answer given the extremely high rates of covid. So it makes sense that when covid rates are so high that there will be an outbreak of hepatitis complications even if it is a very tiny percentage of children who have covid.
We really are only just finding out the longterm impacts of covid infection, and they are very, very worrying. It is clearly not 'just like a bad cold' and it does affect children.

Organictangerine · 16/04/2022 21:33

Following

Wobblypig · 16/04/2022 21:35

Very common to have abnormal liver function in hospitalised covid.

AnyFucker · 16/04/2022 21:44

.

Wrongkindofovercoat · 16/04/2022 21:49

Alabama, US too. 9 cases since Autumn according to some reports

9 out of a population of nearly 5 million in six months ? what's the normal incidence rate ?

Foolsrule · 16/04/2022 21:58

You can get vaccinated to an extent. A and B at least.

Original poster
MumbleCrumbs · 16/04/2022 22:09

@AnIckabog

I'm sure I read somewhere that they had found some evidence - not conclusive but some initial evidence - that covid is another virus that can cause hepatitis, like adenoviruses. That is also the most obvious answer given the extremely high rates of covid. So it makes sense that when covid rates are so high that there will be an outbreak of hepatitis complications even if it is a very tiny percentage of children who have covid. We really are only just finding out the longterm impacts of covid infection, and they are very, very worrying. It is clearly not 'just like a bad cold' and it does affect children.
The thing is why then wouldn't this have been seen before now? Covid has been circulating for nearly 2 years and we've seen huge surges/zero meaningful mitigations I'm schools. I'm so anxious about this, particularly as all three DC's are recovering from Covid Sad.
OP posts:
User34352515 · 16/04/2022 22:17

9 out of a population of nearly 5 million in six months? what's the normal incidence rate?

I believe that there are no rules forcing doctors to report certain conditions so most of the case numbers that make it to the media are just the tip of an iceberg. Many mild cases will recover on their own, get treated by a GP or fall through the net entirely. Even covid numbers are grossly underreported and that's the most tested-for condition in the entire world.

The fact that there have been 49 in the UK since January is clearly concerning and you can expect there to be much more which went unnoticed or unreported. Doctors in hospitals are usually very mindful of patient privacy and they also treat and discharge each child individually. We have friends who work in pediatrics and they have horror stories would make front-page media headlines almost every day, but for obvious reasons are kept private. It's not like House MD where doctors stay late after work trying to connect the dots on certain patients and clusters of symptoms.

Original poster
MumbleCrumbs · 24/04/2022 14:16

This seems to becoming bigger news now with more cases being reported and one child now having passed away. The leading theory now seems to be Adenovirus. Hopefully they will find a better way to treat this soon before the numbers become any higher. Really concerning.

OP posts:
RafaistheKingofClay · 25/04/2022 08:00

The problem is that this particular strain of adenovirus isn’t known for causing hepatitis in organise healthy children, especially of the severity they are seeing. So either there’s a change in the virus or something else is going on as well. Equally adenoviruses are so common over the winter months that it might not be involved at all and may just have been a co-incidental finding.

I think I read somewhere over the weekend that Israel think their cases go back to early 2021.

HairyToity · 25/04/2022 18:32

I'm beginning to get jittery about this. It feels like deja vu, but worse as it's affecting young children.

FlipFlopsMakeMyToesCold · 25/04/2022 22:13

Hi.
I've been reading up on this after a discussion with family member who mentioned surge of hepatitis in kids.

My youngest (6 in a months time) has today what seems to be gastroenteritis and has a temperature this evening. She's also been very itchy last few weeks (but she also has sensitive skin like her dad who is also always itchy!). She had covid beginning of March.

Is it worth getting medical advice? My husband always makes light of situations whilst generally I'm more panicky but this is concerning.

findingsomeone · 25/04/2022 22:21

@FlipFlopsMakeMyToesCold yes, I would seek medical advice

olympicsrock · 25/04/2022 22:28

My niece aged 15 had it recently - no cause found presumed viral…

User7493268965 · 25/04/2022 22:50

Maybe lockdowns made the children more susceptible to this because their immune systems wouldn't be so exposed to different viruses so much, it does seem to be mainly young children