Nearly 200 cases of liver disease reported

LONDON－European health officials said on Tuesday that they have not found a link between cases of a mysterious liver disease outbreak in children.

To date, 190 cases of the hepatitis of unknown origin have been reported, 140 of them in Europe.

"So far there is no connection between the cases and no association to travel," said Andrea Ammon, director at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, in Stockholm.

She said the disease appears in previously healthy children, with cases reported across the European continent, Israel and the United States. Ammon said some cases have led to acute liver failure that has required a transplant.

The ECDC is investigating the cases alongside national authorities and the World Health Organization. Severe hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, is rare in otherwise healthy children.

British health officials investigating the cause of the disease said there is increasing evidence that it is linked to a common virus.

While it is not clear what is causing the illnesses, a leading suspect is an adenovirus, which was detected in 75 percent of the confirmed cases tested, said the UK Health Security Agency in a statement on Monday.

Adenovirus, a common group of viruses, is now circulating in children at higher than average levels after dropping to unusually low levels during the pandemic. One avenue of inquiry being explored is that the outbreak may be linked to a surge in common viral infections after COVID-19 restrictions were phased out. Children who were not exposed to adenovirus over the last two years may now be getting hit harder when they are exposed to the viruses.

"Information gathered through our investigations increasingly suggests that this rise in sudden onset hepatitis in children is linked to adenovirus infection," said Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UKHSA. "However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes."

Chand presented the British data on Monday during an emergency session of the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon.

Authorities in the United States said earlier this month that they were investigating a cluster of otherwise unexplained hepatitis cases diagnosed in nine Alabama children who also tested positive for adenovirus. Officials are exploring a link to one particular version－adenovirus-41－that is normally associated with gut inflammation.

UK public health officials have ruled out any links to COVID-19 vaccines, saying that none of the affected children was vaccinated.

Agencies Via Xinhua