Singapore confirms case of acute hepatitis in 10-month old baby
- Health officials are investigating to see if it has a similar presentation to other cases of the liver inflammation illness reported around the world
- The baby has a previous history of Covid-19, although there’s no current evidence that the acute hepatitis is related to coronavirus
As of April 21, 169 cases had been detected, the WHO has said. The UK Health Security Agency has identified 34 confirmed hepatitis cases in children since Monday, bringing the total number to 145 amid a series of unexplained cases among children around the world. The agency said 10 children had received liver transplants but none had died.
US health officials have cast doubt on Covid-19 as a potential cause of the severe hepatitis cases, while adding weight to the possibility that they may be caused by the more common virus linked to stomach ailments.
Hepatitis doesn’t occur frequently in kids, but is not necessarily rare, said Saul Karpen, a paediatric liver expert at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and board member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Cases caused by known liver viruses are usually reported to local health departments and tracked by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Karpen said about 10 per cent of his paediatric patients with liver transplants have disease that wasn’t caused by one of the recognised liver viruses. What’s remarkable about these liver patients with unexplained disease, he said, is that so many of them have adenovirus 41, and that the cases are so severe.