Could SARS-CoV-2 be the cause of mysterious hepatitis in kids?
Two teams of researchers suggest it's possible the children had asymptomatic COVID-19 infection and that lingering virus particles are priming the immune system
A chain of events possibly triggered by unrecognised infection with SARS-CoV-2 could be causing the mysterious cases of severe hepatitis seen in hundreds of young children around the world, researchers suggest.
Children with COVID-19 are at significantly increased risk for liver dysfunction afterwards, according to a study on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
But most of the children with mystery acute hepatitis had not reported a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, the paper found.
Instead, the majority were found to be infected with an adenovirus called 41F, which is not known to attack the liver.
