Newest updates on the childhood hepatitis cases in kids (CDC updates May 5th-6th)
It has been an interesting 2 weeks in the rat race to figure out why children keep developing “autoimmune” hepatitis. Multiple theories have been thrown around. As of May 6th, 2022, the worldwide count if these hepatitis cases is over 300. That has doubled since mid April. These are one month olds, 5 year olds, 16 year olds. Wide array of age groups here. Some are requiring liver transplants. Others are dead. The rest are now going to live with the consequences of this for life. Their lifespan is most definitely shortened. The years I spent working in a liver transplant ICU taught me just how fragile the liver is after it has been through something this traumatic. Kids do not just suddenly develop autoimmune hepatitis in this magnitude of numbers.
On May 6th, two more kids in Michigan were diagnosed, both under age 5. https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2022/05/06/cdc-investigates-2-michigan-kids-hepatitis-adenovirus/9681035002/. Of the American children whose cases are under investigation, 90% were hospitalized and 14% needed liver transplants, Dr. Jay Butler, the CDC's deputy director for infectious diseases
Here is a link to listen to his press conference on May 5th. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/a0505-hepatitis.html
As of Friday May 6th, cases were under investigation in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, & Wisconsin. Hundreds of similar cases also have been identified in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Spain, Denmark, Romania, Norway, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Israel, according to the WHO.
Adenovirus keeps getting thrown around as a possible cause for this outbreak. The media wants you to believe that masking and social distancing reduced kids immune systems and made them more susceptible to catching this mutant strain of adenovirus. I personally do not buy that story, as kids have not been as locked down as the news wants us to believe, they have been at school for the most part, around other kids, and cloth masks do zero to prevent any viral transmission. I digress.
This article brings up some great points about Adenovirus: https://www.wired.com/story/hepatitis-cases-in-kids-have-scientists-hunting-for-answers/
It’s possible that these children may just happen to be testing positive for adenovirus. “One of the funny things about adenovirus is that healthy children shed infectious virus for quite a while after the initial infection has resolved,” says Charlotte Houldcroft, a virologist at the University of Cambridge. Even toddlers, for as long as six months after infection, might still be shedding a strain they had earlier. “It is possible that there’s lots of children currently shedding adenovirus who perhaps are several weeks away from the time that they’re actually infected,” she says. “And that’s one of the factors that complicates linking the detection of adenovirus back to this particular disease.” “Either way, the adenovirus hypothesis has holes. Alan Parker, a virologist at Cardiff University who specializes in these viruses, points out that not every ill child was found to be infected with one. “That indicates that it may not even be the adenovirus—it may be a couple of different viruses,” he says. Outside of the UK, many of the patients have tested negative for adenovirus. In Denmark, where six cases have been reported, the majority of the children did not test positive, says Anders Koch, an infectious disease specialist at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen. Besides, he says, “even if you find adenovirus in such relatively high numbers in these children, it’s hard to say what’s a causal association.” “It’s possible that these children may just happen to be testing positive for adenovirus. “One of the funny things about adenovirus is that healthy children shed infectious virus for quite a while after the initial infection has resolved,” says Charlotte Houldcroft, a virologist at the University of Cambridge. Even toddlers, for as long as six months after infection, might still be shedding a strain they had earlier. “It is possible that there’s lots of children currently shedding adenovirus who perhaps are several weeks away from the time that they’re actually infected,” she says. “And that’s one of the factors that complicates linking the detection of adenovirus back to this particular disease.”
The article concludes with this: “It could even be a mixture of an adenovirus infection and a toxin or drug exposure that’s triggering the illness.”
Tomorrow we will discuss what those drug exposures might be……..