Scientists look for Covid link to mystery hepatitis in children
- One theory suggests the lingering presence of the coronavirus may have triggered an immune response that led to liver damage
- Scientists suggest that there may be a viral reservoir in children who have previously been infected with Covid
More than 429 cases of the liver disease have been found in children from more than 22 countries- 26 of whom needed liver transplants and six of whom died – since it was first detected in Britain last month.
Scientists are still trying to find out what causes the disease and one of the leading theories is that an adenovirus – a common type of virus that usually causes colds – is to blame.
Some researchers further suggest that an adenovirus in children who have previously been infected with Covid-19 triggered a series of events that led to an immune response that attacked the liver.
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In correspondence published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Petter Brodin, professor of paediatric immunology at Imperial College London, and Moshe Arditi, director of the Infectious and Immunological Diseases Research Centre at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, put forward a theory that a virus reservoir may have formed in children suffering from the disease and that they may have coronavirus lingering in their gastrointestinal tracts.