Severe Hepatitis In Children: What Wisconsin Parents Need To Know

WISCONSIN — Health officials are investigating four Wisconsin pediatric hepatitis cases, which resulted in one death, after an outbreak was detected in 10 states.

Investigators found five children afflicted with unique cases of hepatitis since the end of April, Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt told Patch. Of these cases, all five children also tested positive for adenovirus, which commonly appears as a respiratory infection.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on April 27 to alert clinicians about an association between acute hepatitis and the adenovirus.

One child required a liver transplant after two cases of hepatitis — or inflammation of the liver — turned severe in late April, the health services said in a statement.

Wisconsin is the fourth state where the infected children tested negative for hepatitis types A, B, C, D and E, making this viral infection uncommon.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, lost appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain in the abdomen, dark urine, light-colored stool, joint pain and jaundice, health officials said.

In Alabama, three of nine child patients had acute liver failure and also tested positive for the adenovirus, health services said. Similar cases of the adenovirus popped up in children suffering from hepatitis in the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization reported.

Outbreaks In The Rest Of The U.S., Europe

The 10 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 were reported 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.