Health officials say outside the UK, cases of hepatitis or liver inflammation have been reported in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA.
Last week, UK health authorities announced that they had detected more cases of infection among children than usual. The cause of these infections is unknown. The United Kingdom is the country with the most cases so far, with a total of 74 cases.
The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) did not specify how many total cases there were in the four European countries.
ECDC announced that investigations into the cause of infections are continuing in all European countries where cases have been reported. In the US, Alabama’s department of public health said there were 9 cases in children ages 1 to 6, two of whom needed liver transplants.
Last week the UK Health Safety Agency said that the usual viruses that cause infectious hepatitis had not been detected among cases in the UK.
Researchers are looking at other possible causes and believe the common adenovirus may be the cause, but they do not rule out the possibility of coronavirus.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
It was announced on 5 April that 10 children under 10 years of age had severe hepatitis in Scotland. On 8 April, it was announced that the number of children with hepatitis in England rose to 74. It has been reported that symptoms such as jaundice, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain have been observed in the last month in children in whom the virus has been detected, and some cases had severe liver inflammation and were treated with liver transplantation.
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