Mysterious child hepatitis continues to vex researchers

Abstract

In the three months since UK physicians sounded the alarm about mysterious cases of hepatitis that seemed to be striking young children, researchers have been scrambling to determine the cause -and a possible connection to the coronavirus pandemic has been among the leading hypotheses.But on 17 June, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published data suggesting that -in the United States at least -rates of hepatitis, or liver inflammation, with an unknown cause had not changed since 2017 among children aged 11 or younger 1 . If true, the finding could confound the pandemic-link theory.Not everyone is convinced by the data, however, and it is unclear whether the same finding will emerge from other countries. "I can tell you, having worked in this country for 30 years as a liver doctor, we've had a huge number of cases in 2022," says Deirdre Kelly, a paediatric hepatologist at the University of Birmingham, UK. "And I think the United Kingdom's case ascertainment is extremely good."Despite the US results, the CDC continues to explore connections to the pandemic. A 24 June

Understanding public perceptions in social media responses to posts about acute severe hepatitis of unknown etiology in Indonesia: a qualitative study

“…At a superficial level, this might be explained by the limited awareness of disease causation among Indonesians. Evidence suggests the public has very limited knowledge and misperceptions about ASHUE and its means of transmission [ 16 , 17 ]. This potentially draws false conclusions about ASHUE, as simply media framing (referring to ASHUE as ‘mysterious’) and fear tactics employed by the Government designed to discipline and control people.…”