Mysterious Hepatitis In Children, Cause May Have Been Found
Science/Medical/Technology
Monday 25th, July 2022
Two independent studies of Children in the United Kingdom who developed unexplained liver damage, or hepatitis, have found a virus called adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) in nearly all cases but not in other similar cases. Almost all the children with hepatitis also have a gene variant that affects their immune response.
Adeno-associated virus 2 is a common virus that infects nearly everyone early on in childhood but it wasn't thought to cause any disease.
AAV2 is unusual in that it can only replicate in the presence of other viruses such as an adenovirus or herpes virus, so it remains unclear if AAV2 is the cause of the hepatitis or just an indicator of infection by an adenovirus, says Emma Thomson at the University of Glasgow.
The findings do suggest that the AAV2 or another virus could be triggering liver damage via an as-yet-unknown immune mechanism in children with a genetic predisposition.
"There may be an immune-mediated cause of the hepatitis triggered by viruses, though a lot more work is needed to validate that hypothesis," says Thomson.
"We don't think the lockdown precipitated this, we are just seeing everything at once,".
Adeno-associated virus 2 is a common virus that infects nearly everyone early on in childhood but it wasn't thought to cause any disease.
AAV2 is unusual in that it can only replicate in the presence of other viruses such as an adenovirus or herpes virus, so it remains unclear if AAV2 is the cause of the hepatitis or just an indicator of infection by an adenovirus, says Emma Thomson at the University of Glasgow.
The findings do suggest that the AAV2 or another virus could be triggering liver damage via an as-yet-unknown immune mechanism in children with a genetic predisposition.
"There may be an immune-mediated cause of the hepatitis triggered by viruses, though a lot more work is needed to validate that hypothesis," says Thomson.
"We don't think the lockdown precipitated this, we are just seeing everything at once,".
