CA Children Infected With Severe Hepatitis: What To Know

CALIFORNIA — California has confirmed a cluster of severe hepatitis cases — or inflammation of the liver — among previously health young children. Cases have been reported across 10 other states.

The Golden State's health department issued an advisory late last month directing clinicians to report infections in children to the state.

Seven cases of the unusual illness have been reported since October 2021, the California Department of Public Health confirmed in a statement to Patch on Wednesday.

California health officials have not confirmed if adenovirus played a role in the illness or if cases are connected.

Few cases have been reported in California, but local health officials are urging parents and guardians to take general measures to prevent infection and illness, such as good hand hygiene, covering coughs and sneezes and keeping children home from school or childcare while they are sick, officials said.

The 10 other states reporting this type of pediatric liver inflammation are Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin, where one child died.

Some 200 children, ranging in age from 1 month to 16 years, have suddenly become ill with severe hepatitis. Most cases are in Europe, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a nationwide health alert late last month urging pediatricians to test children for adenovirus infections.

The presence of an adenovirus infection among patients with hepatitis is a common link in outbreaks that have so far flummoxed both U.S. and European health officials. There appears to be no epidemiological link among cases, researchers have said.

Related: CDC Issues Alert After Several Kids Develop Severe Hepatitis

Cold-like symptoms typically accompany adenovirus infections, but the virus has never been known to cause hepatitis, according to the CDC. These types of infections typically run their course, with no specific treatment recommended.

In November 2021, five children undergoing treatment for hepatitis at a large children’s hospital — three of them with acute liver failure — tested positive for adenovirus infections, which can cause cold-like symptoms among people of any age. Another four cases of children with both hepatitis and adenovirus infections were subsequently discovered. None of the patients died, but two required liver transplants.