In May of 2022, five children in Wisconsin who tested positive

 

WISCONSIN — Scientists think they may know more now about the origins of an unexplained outbreak of severe hepatitis that has sickened children in Wisconsin.

A small study of American children published Thursday in the journal Nature said that researchers found severe hepatitis infections, which cause liver inflammation, occurred at the same time many of the children were sick with multiple other viruses, including adeno-associated virus type 2, or AAV2.

To replicate, it needs one or more “helper” viruses, the researchers said. The findings, while speculative, “suggest that the severity of the disease is related to co-infections involving AAV2 and one or more helper viruses,” the researchers wrote.

Since the first cases were reported 2021, at least 13 young children have died of severe hepatitis illnesses in the United States and 22 have needed liver transplants, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was last updated in August.

Nobody has died In Wisconsin, but there have been 12 cases since October 2021, according to Department of Health Services Communications Specialist Elizabeth Goodsitt. The last case was detected in July 2022, Goodsitt said.

Find out what's happening in Across Wisconsinwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let's go!

In May of 2022, five children in Wisconsin who tested positive for the unique form of hepatitis also tested positive at first for adenovirus, but on Monday, Goodsitt told Patch two of those cases have been ruled out because of age or surveillance timelines.

Of the 12 confirmed cases in Wisconsin, three have tested positive for adenovirus, Goodsitt said.

"At this time, adenovirus has been the most common virus identified, but in only 42 percent of the cases nationwide," said Goodsitt. "In no case has adenovirus been identified in liver samples, leading to the conclusion that adenovirus alone may not be the cause of the condition."

"And since the cause is unknown, our focus right now is updating clinicians to ensure they are aware of this condition and report it to DHS," said Goodsitt.

The researchers’ findings are consistent with those in two British studies, and could influence how the illnesses that have flummoxed medical experts are treated.

CDC data updated Wednesday shows 391 suspected cases of the rare form of hepatitis in children 10 and younger under investigation in 46 states. The agency doesn’t release the specific number of cases in each state for privacy reasons. There are patients under investigation in Wisconsin.

Health experts believe extended COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing left many children vulnerable to common bugs such as common colds, influenza and RSV.

The timing of the AAV2 outbreak with the loosening of pandemic restrictions in 2021 is similarly suspect, Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease specialist and microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the authors of the study, told The New York Times.

“That may have resulted in a population that was highly vulnerable to getting infected with multiple viral infections,” he said.

“Children were suddenly exposed to a barrage of viruses after lockdowns or had poorly trained immune systems that led to an increased susceptibility to otherwise harmless viruses,” Dr. Frank Tacke, a gastroenterologist from Germany who was not involved with the research, wrote in a commentary accompanying the study.

https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-onlines-gratis
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-de-online-gratis
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-de-to-online-gratis
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis-4k
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis-ver
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis096
https://www.npmjs.com/package/cuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis07
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835673/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis-4k
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835675/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis-ver
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835677/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis096
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835678/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis07
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835680/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-online-gratis07
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835663/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-onlines-gratis
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835666/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-de-online-gratis
https://forum.techtudo.globo.com/perguntas/835668/www2enpmjs2ecompackagecuevana-3-john-wick-4-ver-pelicula-completa-de-to-online-gratis

More research is needed, Tacke said, but “the fact that three independent groups found this from different areas of the world actually makes it really convincing.”

Among questions yet to be answered are whether AAV2 infections are a precursor to severe hepatitis, play a more casual role are coincidental. It could be the cases stem from a previously unknown virus, according to experts.

“If AAV2 directly caused hepatitis, one would expect more cases to have been reported,” Tacke wrote in his commentary, according to a report from CNN.

The first known cases in the hepatitis outbreak were reported in Alabama in October 2021. Five children had significant liver illnesses, including some with liver failure, but tested negative for the more common hepatitis A, B and C viruses, but positive for adenovirus, a common virus that typically causes cold- and flu-like illnesses and, more rarely, stomach and intestinal problems, according to the CDC.

From April to July 2022 more than 1,000 children in 35 countries have been diagnosed with the severe acute hepatitis illnesses. Nearly 50 children needed liver transplants, and 22 died, according to data from the World Health Organization.