Studies link the Hepatitis Outbreak in 2022 in Kids with Common Childhood Virus
Three separate studies, which were published on Thursday in the journal Nature, suggest that adeno-associated virus 2, or AAV2, may be responsible for an epidemic of acute severe, unexplained hepatitis in children in 2022. In the period between April and July 2022, hepatitis, a condition characterized by inflammation of the liver, was found in more than 1,000 children globally, including at least 350 in the US. According to the World Health Organization, 22 children perished and nearly 50 people required liver transplants. Excerpts from the Study The disease may be related to AAV2, according to a recent study. Unless there is another “helper” virus present, such as an adenovirus or a herpesvirus, this prevalent childhood virus cannot replicate itself. Nearly all of the kids who had unexplained acute hepatitis had AAV2, and many of them had numerous helper viruses, the researchers discovered. The timing of the outbreak may have been related to the worldwide relaxation of Covid-19...