Three Indonesian children have died of a mysterious liver disease, bringing to four the number of children worldwide who have died from acute childhood hepatitis of unknown origin, the Indonesian Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to receive dozens of reports of cases of hepatitis in children whose origin remains to be determined, with a total of nearly 230 probable cases worldwide.
“Thus, at 1er May, at least 228 probable cases have been reported to the WHO in 20 countries, and more than 50 other cases are under investigation,” detailed WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic on Tuesday. a regular press briefing by UN agencies in Geneva.
The origin of these severe inflammations of the liver remains unknown.
The majority of cases have been reported in Europe. On April 5, WHO was informed of 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children under 10 in central Scotland. By April 8, 74 cases had been identified in the UK.
This hepatitis mainly affects children under the age of 10 and is manifested by symptoms such as jaundice, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Some cases required liver transplantation. At least one child has died.
The usual viruses that cause acute viral hepatitis (A to E) were not detected in any of the cases, according to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO.
Role to be specified
An analysis of these mysterious cases of hepatitis in the United States led the American health authorities to favor the track of an adenovirus last week, without however establishing it as a definitive cause.
Commonplace, adenoviruses are known to cause respiratory symptoms, conjunctivitis or even digestive disorders.
Transmission occurs by the faecal-oral or respiratory route, with epidemic peaks often in winter and spring, and more often in communities. The majority of humans are infected before the age of 5.
Their role in the development of mysterious hepatitis, however, remains unclear.