There was NO increase in hepatitis hospitalizations in US children, CDC analysis findings –

There was no increase in hospitalizations or liver transplants for childhood hepatitis this winter, despite 274 cases and six children dying from the disease, according to an analysis by health officials.

Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who conducted the study, suggested that no more cases of childhood hepatitis were recorded than before Covid hit the country.

However, they cautioned that there is no system to report and record cases of young people with inflammatory liver disease for no known reason.

The agency said in a statement that its findings suggest “no significant nationwide increase” in hepatitis cases compared to pre-March 2020.

They added that while scientists are still trying to determine whether the common cold is due to a previous Covid infection, adenovirus, which causes a weakened immunity, it does not help determine what causes the mysterious cases of hepatitis found both in America and in other countries. system or some other factor.

CDC scientists also suggested that data from several other European countries were “inconclusive” that they had recently seen an increase in cases of childhood hepatitis, but they said the UK was among those that reported a peak in childhood hepatitis compared to previous years.

Scientists not involved in the study said today that the findings provide “very useful information” and suggest that a previous Covid infection may not be at the root of the disease.

The chart above shows the number of hospitalizations with hepatitis (red line, children aged 0-4 and red spotted line, children aged 5-11) compared to previous years. This year shows no significant peak

This chart shows the number of liver transplants performed in children under 11 years of age (red line) this year compared to previous years. This shows that there is no significant increase compared to previous years.

Cases of mysterious hepatitis have been reported in a total of 39 states. Listed above are states that have reported at least one case.

America has so far reported more than 274 cases of mysterious hepatitis in a total of 39 states or most of the country.

14 liver transplants and six deaths associated with the condition have also been reported.

The CDC study was published in early version today in the agency’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Reports (MMWR).

Publishing the newspaper, they said: “The number of children admitted to the hospital with hepatitis of unknown origin has remained constant in the last four years.

“While this study did not establish a cause for pediatric hepatitis of unknown origin, it does suggest that there has been no significant nationwide increase in these cases recently compared to pre-pandemic.”

In the study, the scientists looked at data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, which covers about 70 percent of non-federal emergency services (EDs) in all 50 states. They also looked at data from more than 1,000 hospitals managed by the Premier Healthcare system.

Data for liver transplants are from the nationwide Organ Supply and Transplant Network (OPTN).

It found that among children aged 0-4, there were approximately 22 hepatitis emergency room visits per month from October 2021 to March 2022, no significant change from 19.5 in the previous year.

For children ages 5 to 11, approximately 12 emergency room visits were made through March 2022, compared to 10.5 in the previous 12 months.

As for liver transplants, about five people under the age of 18 were registered each month from October 2021 to March 2022. For comparison: there were four between October 2017 and March 2019.

Compared to the pre-pandemic period, there was no significant increase in the number of children presenting to the emergency room with hepatitis or requiring a liver transplant recently, the scientists said.

The article also examined the proportion of patient stool samples that tested positive for adenovirus, the main theory of the cause of the disease.

They found that the percentage of those who contracted this virus before and after March 2020 remained between 5 and 19 percent among children under the age of four, and between three and 14 percent for children between the ages of five and nine.

The scientists wrote in the paper: “These analyzes … did not show a recent increase in hepatitis-related emergency room visits or hospitalizations in children aged 0-11, or in liver transplants in children aged 0-17.” .

Overall, they said it was “inconclusive” that several other European countries had also seen an increase in cases compared to previous years.

But in the UK, which was the first to alert the world to the mysterious disease, they noted that the health system is reporting more cases of hepatitis than before.

Noting the limitations of the study, they said: “Although liver transplants are well documented, cases of hepatitis are unknown. [cause] They are not reportable in the United States”.

They added that data may be missing, as it normally takes up to three months for this to occur in their records. They also added that depending on how health research behavior has changed, the Covid pandemic may have affected the patterns they expect to see.

Commenting on the research, Dr. Alasdair Munro, a pediatrician at the University of Southampton in the UK, said: “Interestingly, the US, which has one of the largest Covid burdens, has not seen any increase in cases of acute and severe hepatitis in young children during/since the pandemic.

“It provides very useful information about the overflow observed in the UK.”