The European Center for Disease Control registers 40 cases in Europe and studies its relationship with vaccination against covid as “one more theory”
The first alert of a case of serious hepatitis in children of unknown origin jumped in April and there are already 190 confirmed cases in the world, but since then the unknowns persist, they recognize in the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC, for its acronym in English). “In none of the countries where they have been reported is the origin of this disease known,” admits Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC, at a press conference on Tuesday. “Hepatitis A to E are excluded, and possible causes are sought, perhaps due to an adenovirus infection.”
So far there are 40 confirmed cases in ten European countries, according to the monitoring carried out by the ECDC, “although the numbers are still not very precise.” They have also been reported in Israel and the United States. “Many of these infections have resulted in severe hepatitis and a few have required liver transplantation for liver failure,” Ammon says. According to the World Health Organization there have been 17 patients who needed a transplant and one died. “Investigations are ongoing in all countries reporting cases, but at present the exact cause of this hepatitis is still unknown.”
The European agency assured that a possible relationship between this new type of hepatitis and covid vaccines “is all speculation,” Ammon said. “This theory is emerging now, and that little interaction could be a risk factor, but I can’t confirm or deny that because it’s still under investigation at the moment.” Other hypotheses are that it is an adenovirus mutation that acts in collusion with the coronavirus or a toxin.
This European disease control body, which works together with the WHO in these cases, has ruled out that there is a connection between infections and international travel in their transmission, and announces that the Geneva-based body will publish a report on the risks at the end of the week.
The most frequent syndromes of this hepatitis is yellowing of the skin and eyes, followed by vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms, “which is compatible with adenovirus,” Ammon said. “The common protocol that we have recommended to countries to detect these cases of hepatitis is based, in principle, on diagnoses for adenoviruses.”
The director of the ECDC rules out that this disease in minors, probably caused by the adenovirus, could occur before the first case reported by the United Kingdom without being detected. “A situation like this would not have gone unnoticed,” says Ammon.
Excluding hepatitis A, B, C, D and E as the cause of these liver ailments, and opening scenarios that range from the relaxation of the immune system of children to toxins, what prevails in scientific analysis to date is the adenovirus, a virus whose effects can be intestinal or flu-like.
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