Acute Hepatitis Cases in Children Show Declining Trend; Adenovirus, COVID-19 Remain Key Leads
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Case numbers of acute hepatitis in children show "a declining trajectory," and COVID-19 and adenovirus remain the most likely, but as yet unproven, causative agents, said experts in an update at the International Liver Congress (ILC) 2022. Philippa Easterbrook, MD, medical expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) Global HIV, Hepatitis, and STI Programme, shared the latest case numbers and working hypotheses of possible causative agents in the outbreak of acute hepatitis among children in Europe and beyond. Global data across the five WHO regions show there were 244 cases in the past month, bringing the total to 894 probable cases reported since October 2021 from 33 countries.
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@abhinav It's important to remember that this includes new cases, as well as retrospectively identified cases. Over half (52%) are from the European region, while 262 cases (30% of the global total) are from the United Kingdom. Together the United Kingdom and the United States make up 65% of the global total.