FILE - Hepatitis B virus (Hepadnavirid family). (BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory after several children were diagnosed with hepatitis and adenovirus infection, according to an alert put out by the agency on Thursday. "This Health Advisory serves to notify US clinicians who may encounter pediatric patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology to consider adenovirus testing and to elicit reporting of such cases to state public health authorities and to CDC," the health agency said.
Reports of the illnesses came from a large children’s hospital in Alabama beginning in November 2021, the CDC said. A total of five kids during this time suffered liver injuries, including two patients who suffered acute liver failure.
All five patients tested positive for both hepatitis and the adenovirus. "Case-finding efforts at this hospital identified four additional pediatric patients with hepatitis and adenovirus infection for a total of nine patients admitted from October 2021 through February 2022," according to the health agency.