Last year, a sudden outbreak of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children caused concern, but scientists may now have an explanation for the phenomenon.
Three studies independently suggest that a previously thought harmless virus, together with other factors, could be at the root of the mysterious liver disease, according to the journal Nature. The return of children to nurseries and schools after the corona lockdowns may also have played a role.
At the beginning of April 2022, puzzling and sometimes serious cases of hepatitis – an inflammation of the liver – first appeared in previously healthy children. In July 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported about a thousand sick children in 35 different countries, including Belgium. About fifty patients, some of them very young, required a liver transplant and at least 22 children died of the disease.
The now published studies from Great Britain and the US point to a connection with a certain type of adeno-associated virus (AAV2). The research teams from the University of Glasgow, University College London and the University of California found high levels of the virus in the blood and liver tissue samples of the vast majority of the children involved.
Until now, it was believed that AAV2 by itself does not normally cause disease and that it cannot infect cells itself, but needs other viruses to replicate. However, the London team found small traces of a human adenovirus and a herpes virus in addition to AAV2, which could act as “helper viruses”. The scientists suspect that this may have enabled AAV2 to multiply and cause serious damage to the liver.
The outbreak is also said to have been facilitated by the corona lockdowns. Children built up less good immunity by staying at home and not coming into contact with the viruses they normally come into contact with.
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