Mysterious Liver Disease

• 21 Apr 2022

Why in News?

Recently, some Cases of a Mysterious Liver Disease have been reported in Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands, besides the US and UK.

What is this Mysterious Disease?

• About:
  • Children between the age of 1 to 6 years old have been the target of the disease.
  • According to reports, the disease might be related to virus usually associated with colds.
  • The disease has been reported to be severe so far. Though no children died so far in the US, UK, six children needed liver transplants.
• Symptoms:
  • The symptoms are general liver diseases like hepatitis or liver inflammation but the cause remains unknown.
  • Jaundice, diarrhoea and abdominal pain has been reported.
• Probable Causes:
  • Laboratory testing has ruled out the hepatitis type A, B, C and E viruses that usually cause such illnesses. The role of international travel, if any, is not yet known.
  • Maybe a group of viruses called adenoviruses, which cause common respiratory illnesses such as the common cold.
    • Some of the European children tested positive for adenovirus, and some tested positive for Covid-19.
    • Adenoviruses are preferred for vaccines because their DNA (DeoxyRiboNucleic Acid) is double stranded which makes them genetically more stable and the chances of them changing after injection are lower.
  • As per their analyses, there could be a possible association of hepatitis with Adenovirus 41.

Source: IE