The United Kingdom Health Security Agency or UKHSA recently announced that further 34 cases of sudden inflammation have been detected, bringing the total number throughout the UK to 108.
A Mirror report specified that more than 100 children have "gone down with a mystery hepatitis" disease with eight of them requiring liver transplants.
Mystery hepatitis hits 108 UK children leaving eight in need of liver transplanthttps://t.co/hKVuWR0aqq
— Ave Will (@avecozave) April 22, 2022
Cases have been reported in the United States, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands as well, although researchers remain unsure what's causing the diseases.
They suspect a virus in particular and have not ruled out COVID-19. Nevertheless, the main suspect is a family of common diseases known as "adenoviruses that typically cause a series of mild diseases which include colds, diarrhea, and vomiting. Most patients recover minus complications.
Liver Transplant in Children
As reported on the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin website, a liver transplant is a surgery type in which doctors take out a sick liver in a person and have it replaced with a healthy donor liver.
Essentially, transplants are performed when the liver of a child does not work well and they wouldn't survive minus the new one. Sometimes, doctors are calling this "liver failure." They only recommend a liver transplant after they have attempted all other therapeutics to save the liver of the child.
Most donors of the organ are adults and children who have agreed, or their guardians have agreed to have their own organs donated following their death.
Lastly, adults and children can receive a liver transplant as well, from a living donor. This particular person is donating a piece of his liver to a person who needs a new one. The liver of the living donor is expanding to normal size after around six weeks. In children, the donated liver piece will grow as the kid grows.
Children's Weakened Immune System
According to some experts, they believe the weakened immune systems of children after repeat lockdowns could be one of the factors. Director of infections at UKHSA Dr. Meera Chand said they are working with the National Health Services and public health colleagues in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to investigate swiftly a whole range of probable factors which may be causing the children to be confined at the hospital with liver inflammation identified as hepatitis.
Information collected through the scientists' investigation increasingly recommends that this is associated with adenovirus infection. Nevertheless, they are thoroughly studying other probable causes.
Normal hygiene measures like thorough handwashing which includes supervising children, and good thorough respiratory hygiene, help in the reduction of the spread of various common infections which include adenovirus.
Hepatitis Symptoms
In a similar report, The World News specified that the researchers have called on both the parents and guardians, to be alert to the indications of hepatitis which include jaundice, and to get in touch with a healthcare practitioner if they are concerned.
Symptoms of hepatitis comprise grey-colored poo, dark urine, jaundice, itchy skin, vomiting, high temperature, muscle and joint pain, and loss of appetite.
Usually, it becomes a result of viruses hepatitis A to E in these conditions in children were found not to have had any, and thus, the cause remains unknown.
According to epidemiologist Dr. Kimberly Marsh at Public Health Scotland, the children could be "immunologically naive" to the virus due to the pandemic restriction.
Not Linked to COVID-19 Vaccines
Marsh also said the leading hypotheses center around adenovirus, either a new strain with a unique clinical syndrome or a routinely circulating strain that is more seriously affecting younger children who are immunologically naive.
The latter scenario may be the outcome of restricted social mixing during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the UKHSA, COVID-19 vaccines were not causing the cases as non of the kids had nad an injection.
So far, 79 of the affected children are in England, 14 are from Scotland, and the remaining kids are from Northern Ireland and Wales. All these kids with hepatitis were presented to health services from January to the middle of April 2022.
Related information about hepatitis in UK children is shown on the World News's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE : Bizarre Liver Disease Outbreak in Kids Now Detected in Children Population of US and EU, WHO Says
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