Hepatitis outbreak in children: All you need to know about the likely cause

A recent spate of severe liver inflammation - also known as hepatitis - has been reported in previously healthy children.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have been conducting an ongoing investigation into the cause behind the rising cases of hepatitis amongst children in the UK since the beginning of the month. As of April 21, there have been 169 confirmed cases of “acute hepatitis of unknown origin” in children in 12 countries, with the vast majority of cases (114) occurring in the UK. Many of the children are under ten years old.

Cheryl Walter, a lecturer in Biomedical Science at the University of Hull, says that what has been most concerning for health professionals reporting on these cases is the severity of the disease in the otherwise healthy children. Seventeen have needed a liver transplant, and one child has died of liver failure.

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Dr Walter says that the number of transplants is far higher than what has been typically seen over similar time periods in previous years, reports Wales Online. While acute hepatitis is not unheard of in children, the doctor suggests that these latest figures are unprecedented, and so far, only partly explained.

In the explainer below, Dr Walter suggests that one suspect in the recent spate could be an infection caused by an adenovirus.

According to the UKHSA, adenovirus was the most common pathogen found in 40 of 53 confirmed cases tested in the UK. The agency said that “investigations increasingly suggest that the rise in severe cases of hepatitis may be linked to adenovirus infection but other causes are still being actively investigated”.

Adenoviruses are a large group of viruses that can infect