Common virus found in many of the kids with mysterious hepatitis

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-07-14 07:00

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A common type of virus known as an adenovirus, has been found in the majority of kids who developed a mysterious hepatitis condition, according to two small studies. One study looked at a group of 44 kids from the UK and found that human adenovirus could be found in most of the children, although whether it had a role in causing the condition could not be established. A second study looked at 15 kids in the US and also found that the human adenovirus was present in the majority of children with acute hepatitis of unknown cause. DNA sequencing on the viruses from five kids found three different types of virus. The authors say if human adenovirus does turn out to be the cause of the hepatitis, that it is not an outbreak driven by a single strain.