Other cases of acute hepatitis in children. “A cross between Covid and adenovirus”

The level of attention for acute hepatitis episodes occurring in children is growing. At least 9 cases have been ascertained in Italy. There are more than a hundred reports at international level, and there is a fear of an escalation, as already happened in December with the wave of respiratory syncytial virus pneumonia in newborns. The hepatitis that doctors are seeing are of an unknown nature, the infectious agent that triggers them may be new, certainly has escaped analysis so far. In these hours, eyes focused on the 3-year-old, transferred from Meyer in Florence to the intensive care of the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital in Rome, but the need for liver transplantation seems to have been averted. Two other cases of sick children have been reported in Lombardy (they are not life threatening). The Anglo-Saxon researchers who first described the epidemic say they are baffled, many wonder if a microorganism of the adenovirus family is circulating (in the case of the Tuscan child this hypothesis has been excluded) or a hybrid in some way related to one of the last. variants of Sars-Cov2. “We have launched in-depth investigations – said the infectious disease specialist Gianni Rezza, director of prevention of the Ministry of Health – after several reports of acute hepatitis cases of unknown cause arrived from the United Kingdom, especially among children under 10 years of age. April 14, as a ministry, we took action to update and inform the regional administrations, to urge them to report suspicious cases that fall within the definition made by the WHO “. In light of the current situation, reports Giuseppe Maggiore, head physician at the Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome, vigilance is required. “The child we are treating – specifies the professor of gastroenterology – is in intensive care for severe hepatitis with an important commitment to the liver. Right now this …