With the increasing number of “unexplained” childhood hepatitis cases, the research on this case has been deepening in various countries. According to data released by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, since the UK first reported cases of unexplained childhood hepatitis on April 5, as of the 20th, 111 cases under the age of 10 have been found in the UK. On the 27th, 12 countries in the European Economic Area also reported 55 suspected and confirmed cases.
Unknown cause of childhood hepatitis under the influence of the new crown The emergence of cases has parents worried. On the 28th, Ou Qian, the founder of Zhibei Medical and the attending pediatrician, said in an interview with reporters that “unknown cause” does not mean “terrifying”. disease, does not directly reflect the severity of the disease.
According to the World Wide Web report, after children are infected, they will experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. At the same time, children will also have jaundice, liver enzyme levels will also increase. According to an investigation report released by the UK Health Security Agency, the current hypothesis is that hepatitis is related to adenovirus. In fact, cases of adenovirus infection in children are very common. Pediatricians often encounter adenovirus-induced upper respiratory tract infections, conjunctivitis, and otitis media during the course of treatment, such as liver damage, said O’Shea. relatively rare.
So how does unexplained childhood hepatitis point to adenovirus? On the 25th, the UK Health Security Agency released an investigation technical briefing, which showed that as of April 20, there were 111 cases of unexplained hepatitis in children under 16 in the UK, of which 43 children living in England have recovered. Seven people had liver transplants. Most of these cases were under 5 years of age, and the clinical syndrome manifested first with gastroenteritis-type symptoms and then with jaundice.
Other than that, no known case None of them were tested for hepatitis virus, but 40 of the 53 test results contained adenovirus. The data of the blood samples showed that the initial type of adenovirus was type 41F. In the blood of the non-samples, the researchers also found other types of adenoviruses
Oxie thinks , a group of adenovirus infection statistics in that briefing that should be highlighted, and she also analyzed them in detail. O’Shea said that since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, for about a year, the chance of children aged 1-4 being infected with adenovirus is very low. The analysis believes that this situation is mainly due to the strict prevention and control measures during the epidemic. Everyone goes out less often, wears masks habitually, and has done a good job in hygiene, which has reduced the spread of the epidemic to a certain extent, and also reduced the glandular The probability of spreading the virus.
The briefing concluded that unexplained hepatitis cases are mainly related to adenovirus, and the mechanism of liver injury is likely to be virus-mediated or immune-mediated. In this regard, Ou Qian believes that the two mechanisms of action are different. Viruses are pathogens that directly cause certain damage to the human body. The latter is that when the pathogen invades, the human body will directly mobilize the immune system to fight against it. When removing pathogens, the immune response itself may also have certain negative effects on the human body.
Although the pathogenesis of the disease has not yet been investigated However, everyone should be vigilant and do a good job of prevention, especially respiratory and hand hygiene. As for some remarks between the virus and the new crown, we should maintain a calm, objective and rational attitude, and not be influenced by “panic emotions”.