Canada and UK Confirm Additional Acute Hepatitis Cases in Children

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announced yesterday an increase in acute severe hepatitis cases in children not caused by known hepatitis viruses. As of May 20, 2022, there are ten cases in Canada meeting the national definition for these mysterious cases.

The breakdown by province is as follows: Alberta (3), Manitoba (2), Ontario (4), and Quebec (1).

These children, who were younger than 13 years old, became sick between November 3, 2021, and April 23, 2022, and were hospitalized.

Two of these children required a liver transplant, but no reported deaths in Canada reported the PHAC.

Separately, the UK Heath Security Agency (UKHSA) published its third detailed technical briefing on the investigations into the increase in cases of sudden onset hepatitis in children.

The total number of pediatric cases in the UK has reached 197 as of May 16, 2022.

Of these mysterious cases, 11 have received a liver transplant, and no patients in the UK have died.

Dr. Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at UKHSA, recently commented, 'It's important that parents know the likelihood of their child developing hepatitis is extremely low.'

'Our investigations suggest an association with adenovirus, and our studies are now testing this association rigorously.'

Since this outbreak began in 2019, the UK, Europe, Canada, the USA, and other countries have reported about 624 acute liver inflammation infections of unknown etiology among children, including 14 deaths, in about thirty countries.

Breaking news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/Acute.

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