Current knowledge about the outbreak of acute severe hepatitis of unknown origin among children

² Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Key Laboratory for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Collaborative Innovation Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

³ Department of Microbiology, School of Preclinical Medicine, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Early Prevention and Treatment of Regional High Frequency Tumors, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

JCTR 2022, 8(6), 470–475; https://doi.org/10.18053/jctres.08.202206.005

Submitted: 26 July 2022 | Revised: 25 September 2022 | Accepted: 26 September 2022 | Published: 31 October 2022

© 2022 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Background: A recent outbreak of acute severe hepatitis of unknown aetiology (ASHep-UA) among children 16 years old and younger has aroused global concern. Initially reported in central Scotland, the disease has been notified in 35 countries and linked to 22 deaths as of 25 September 2022.

Aim: This review aimed to provide current knowledge about the outbreak of ASHep-UA.

Methods and Results: The websites of the World Health Organization, the UK Health Security Agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the PubMed database were searched, based on the search term “acute severe hepatitis of unknown aetiology”. The corresponding reports or literature previously released by the mentioned websites and database were integrated to obtain current information about ASHep-UA.

Conclusion: Even though the potential relevance between ASHep-UA and adenovirus, adeno-associated virus 2, and human herpes viruses was revealed, the aetiology of ASHep-UA is still unknown. More effort should be made to explore whether ASHep-UA is caused by a novel virus or other environmental factors, to generate appropriate treatment strategies

Relevance to patients: ASHep-UA has aroused global concern recently, which may lead to adverse outcomes like liver transplants and death. The present review shares current development and information about the outbreak of acute severe hepatitis of unknown origin among children.

Keywords

Acute hepatitis

Epidemiology

Adenovirus

SARS-CoV-2

Diagnosis

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript.

References

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