Dozens of unexplained cases of hepatitis (liver inflammation) have been discovered in children in Britain, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, noting that many of the patients had previously been infected with viruses including the coronavirus.
The known hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E had all been ruled out as the causes of the illness in the case cluster, the WHO said, adding that six patients had subsequently had to have liver transplants.
A further three cases had been reported from Spain, (age range 22-month-old to 13-year-old), it said.
The Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid, where the affected Spanish children have been treated said in a statement that "the first investigations in the international field indicate that this disease is not related with (Covid-19) vaccination."
The affected Spanish children come from the regions of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Aragon. There are three cases that are not related to each other.
A number of suspected cases have also been reported in Ireland, but not all have been confirmed.
he WHO called on all countries "to identify, investigate and report potential cases fitting the case definition."
International travel, poisoning
Most of the children are in the under-five age group, for whom no anti-Covid vaccine has yet been licensed. Therefore, the authorities rule out any relationship between the coronavirus vaccination and the disease.
The cases were all being investigated in order to establish whether the children had travelled to particular countries or had suffered poisoning, the WHO said.
Scotland reported 10 cases of acute hepatitis in previously healthy children aged between 11 months and 5 years on 5 April. One of the children had developed symptoms in January and the others in March.
Within the next three days, a total of 74 cases had been found across Britain in children under the age of 10.
"The clinical syndrome in identified cases is of acute hepatitis with markedly elevated liver enzymes, often with jaundice, sometimes preceded by gastrointestinal symptoms, in children principally up to 10 years old," the WHO said.
