Seven Child Deaths Linked to Hepatitis Outbreak

[JoeOtterbein]

Food Safety and Quality

May 26, 2022 • By Keith Loria

Six U.S. children and one child in Mexico have died and approximately 180 other youths have been inflicted with hepatitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cause of the hepatitis outbreak remains a mystery.

These occurrences of the liver disease, which stretch back at least seven months, have impacted children in 36 U.S. states and territories. “The illness in many of these patients is severe, and the extent of the injury to the liver can be quite extensive,” Umesh Parashar, chief of the viral gastroenteritis branch at CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, said in a statement. “And so, this is clearly a severe disease that we’re taking very carefully for that reason, and the proportion of these, despite treatment, do unfortunately die.”

As of May 23, 15 of the children reported to have a connection to the investigation have required a liver transplant, according to the agency. Additionally, there have been no reported deaths since February 2022, and the proportion of patients requiring liver transplants has gone down from 15% to 9% since May 5.

Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at CDC, notes that, of the 180 number being reported, not all cases are recent, and some may not even be linked to the current investigation, but no firm answers are available at this time.

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more at link

[lapfog_1]

1. related to the strawberries sold at popular grocery stores in California and other locations?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/30/health/strawberries-hepatitis-fda-investigation/index.html

[hlthe2b]

2. No. That is hepatitis A--easily identified from antigen and antibody tests and these kids

have had extensive panels of testing against any number of viruses and other agents, including COVID-19, Hepatitis A, B, C, E, and the other variants seen worldwide. Adenovirus 41 still remains linked to a large proportion, but that is not yet a causal association.

Not to mention that children are typically vaccinated for Hepatitis A with current recommendations The HepA vaccine is recommended for children 12–23 months old, followed by a second dose at least 6 months later, and can be given as young as six months. It also does not typically cause such severe fulminant hepatitis in otherwise healthy individuals, including the young, albeit it does cause significant and unpleasant illness.

[JoeOtterbein]

3. Thanks...

...for an educated answer.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Thank you!