169 cases of acute childhood hepatitis and one death in 11 countries. Just five days after the World Health Organization reported the outbreak in the UK, international authorities have identified almost two hundred cases; most of them in Europe, but also in the USA and Israel. This is what we know for now.

What do we know about the disease for now?. We know that the most important clinical problem is liver inflammation and hepatitis. In addition, it seems clear that most of the cases have evolved very rapidly, drastically altered liver enzymes and not registering fever. However, for now, the clinical symptoms cannot be fully defined and they try not to ignore a disease case whose details we do not know.

Therefore, in general, all hepatitis with serum transaminase values ​​exceeding 500 IU/L are considered suspicious. It is then reported if known hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, E, and D) are ruled out. As far as we know so far, most children are recovering from the disease, but about one in 10 require an emergency liver transplant, according to the WHO.

So far, little information has emerged about the boy who died in the UK.

Distribution of severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin, as of April 23, 2022 | WHO

sickness in Spain. If we stick to the epidemiological data, Spain is one of the countries with the highest number of cases. However, it cannot be said that we have seen the symptoms of an erupting epidemic so far. Of the 13 reported cases of the disease, a dozen have occurred since January and were only detected retrospectively. According to the reports from the Ministry of Health, this would be within what would be expected given the data from the rest of the world.

What causes the disease? We don’t know yet, but things are starting to become clear as more cases emerge. For example, as explained by the European Center for Disease Control, “The research team in the UK, where the majority of cases have occurred to date, consider an infectious agent to be the most likely cause, based on clinical features and epidemiology of the cases.

At this time, any association of cases with the covid-19 vaccine has been ruled out and there does not appear to be any common exposure to any type of food, drink or beverage. As I said, research has also ruled out that this is a viral hepatitis of types A, B, C, D and E.

What is known about Adenovirus 41? Many theories are heard these days and some hypotheses are being worked on. Currently the loudest is adenovirus 41, a virus that causes pediatric gastroenteritis that can cause liver problems in immunocompromised children.

But as Raúl Rivas González, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Salamanca, points out, it does not explain the seriousness of the cases, although it is reasonable. In short, almost everything for now is speculation and should be taken as such.

Keep watching, keep analyzing. We should not be deceived: it is inevitable that such data will alarm the population. Especially when they directly affect children. The good news, however, is that the international response to the alarm has been very rapid, and in less than a week a large number of cases have emerged that will allow for a detailed study of the characteristics of the disease.

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