The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to receive dozens of reports of cases of a mysterious hepatitis that affects children and has so far registered some 230 cases worldwide, the institution said Tuesday.
As of May 1, 228 cases in 209 countries have been reported to the WHO and another 50 are under investigation,” a WHO spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic, told reporters in Geneva.
The majority of cases are recorded in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.
The origin of these hepatitis remains a mystery.
On April 5, the WHO was informed of 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children under 10 years of age in central Scotland. As of April 8, 74 cases had already been identified in the UK.
this hepatitis produces jaundice, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Some cases have required a liver transplant and at least one child has died.
Common hepatitis viruses have not been recorded in any of the cases, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO.
An analysis of these mysterious cases of hepatitis in the United States led the country’s health authorities to think that its origin could be a common pathogen called adenovirus 41, although for now this remains a hypothesis.
Adenoviruses, normally trivial, cause respiratory problems, conjunctivitis or digestive problems. They are more frequent in winter and are easily transmitted in day care centers and schools. Most humans become infected before the age of 5 years.