Acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology – UK | Hacker News Reader

Acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology – UK

who.int

65 pointsgmac37 comments

Well, PIMS / MIS-C at least sometimes seems to affect the liver:

„Acute hepatitis is a prominent presentation of the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: a single-center report“ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7655704/

Maybe having COVID19 is not a good idea in general, even for children.

No disease is a good idea. It is not like people choose to have them

And these cases are very recent, 2022. So based on previous data COVID has not been very dangerous to children

Edit: wrongly thought the original article mentioned underlying health conditions. So replies might be unrelated now

So you are saying that children with underlying health conditions are at a higher risk for MIS-C and / or this hepatitis than the rest?

I have repeatedly seen HNers argue that COVID is harmless to children (no qualifiers), and that the cure is worse than the disease.

Besides, arguing that COVID is harmless as long as you're not one of the people it harms is just morally and intellectually bankrupt. Yes, clever tautology, but there are real-world consequences for real people here.

>I have repeatedly seen HNers argue that COVID is harmless to children (no qualifiers), and that the cure is worse than the disease.

HNers?

How about UK's JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), a government advisory panel?

"Covid-19: JCVI opts not to recommend universal vaccination of 12-15 year olds"

Source: https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2180?ijkey=350e95850073...

UK JCVI declined to recommend the vaccine on risk/benefit basis. That is a scientific fact that, in your own words, "the cure is worse than the disease" for some.

JCVI membership:

  Professor Andrew Pollard, Chair (University of Oxford)
  Professor Lim Wei Shen, Chair COVID-19 immunisation (Nottingham University Hospitals)
  Professor Anthony Harnden, Deputy Chair (University of Oxford)
  Dr Kevin Brown (Public Health England)
  Dr Rebecca Cordery (Public Health England)
  Dr Maggie Wearmouth (East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust)
  Professor Matt Keeling (University of Warwick)
  Alison Lawrence (lay member)
  Professor Robert Read (Southampton General Hospital)
  Professor Anthony Scott (London School of Hygiene & Tropical   Medicine)
  Professor Adam Finn (University of Bristol)
  Dr Fiona van der Klis (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands)
  Professor Maarten Postma (University of Groningen)
  Professor Simon Kroll (Imperial College London)
  Dr Martin Williams (University Hospitals Bristol)
  Professor Jeremy Brown (University College London Hospitals)

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vacc...

Looking forward to your explanation on how these world-renowed immunologists are spouting tautologies and are morally and intellectually bankrupt.

I would say that "the health benefits are marginally greater than the potential known harms.” means not worth the price, but not "the cure is worse than the disease".

> Maybe having COVID19 is not a good idea in general, even for children.

Isn't the estimate now that 60% of the EU population had Covid-19 at least once? The WHO estimate in january was that by march at least 50% of the EU would have had Omicron only. Then you add all the other variants on top of that.

I mean: short of locking yourself up forever, you don't really get to decide if you get Covid or not so I don't understand your comment.

>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and/or adenovirus have been detected in several cases. The United Kingdom has recently observed an increase in adenovirus activity, which is co-circulating with SARS-CoV-2

Weren't most Brits immunized with an Adenovirus-based SARS COV-2 vaccine? Could this maybe cause issue with the immune responses to some Adenoviruses?

It changed over time. Almost everyone vaccinated who was 40 and under and boosters have been done with Pfizer/Moderna. The adenovirus vaccines were used mainly early on for higher age groups and at-risk groups getting initial doses.

In any case, the virus in the Oxford vaccines couldn't replicate and was a chimp virus that people hadn't been exposed to previously, so they would obviously notice if that specific virus started circulating.

No, that was specifically ruled out as the majority of children with this disease had NOT had the vaccine.

Why is it seemingly localized to the UK though? If it’s covid related, I guess it could be like one specific strain causing it or something. But it seems more likely to me that it ends up being some sort of contaminated product. I got some tainted supplements on Amazon and they messed my liver levels up for a few months. Luckily I caught it early enough.

It isn't localized to UK, cases have been reported in Ireland and Spain as well.

what type of supplement was it ? what type of symptoms did you experience ? always worried about things like that.

That's a huge issue with supplements if you ask me. Is the government doing anything to stop this? Do they test random samples and fine/ban the company from selling?

Could it explain why the Chinese are locking down part of Shanghai? May be this time it’s a new variant coming out of China

No. It's just Omicron causing havoc.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hepatitis-increas...

The WHO link is a 404.

It seems that the level of sickness in society is going to increase due to widespread Covid infection. The question is - by how much? There likely will be more evidence of the ongoing impact on public health. Hopefully it won't be too high a health burden, or we may have to re-evaluate our response.

In concert with the recent Kinder eggs Salmonella episode just before Easter, I would hazard a guess that there is a supply chain attack at play here and it is specifically targeting Western children.

This reeks of terrorism.

Strangely all cases are very recent

Because older cases have a known etiology. That's how research works - you don't know things until you know them.

There are no Rotschilds, Gateses or Soroses behind them.

Well if there are older cases and are known of known etiology, were they caused by covid infection? If they weren't, why is this news relevant? If they were, why is it not mentioned, or made the news earlier?

It does not have to be anything or anyone particular. But if it is only a recent phenomenon it must have an explanation?

A new significantly different variant? Maybe caused by the mass vaccination of the population?

Some other other disease that coincidentally appeared recently?

Some undiagnosed existing underlying health condition?

Ignored, misdiagnosed in the past?

They found 74 children with acute hepatitis that isn’t caused by any of the hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, and E.

We don’t know what caused it. Could be a mutation of a known virus, but it need not be a virus at all.

That’s the news.

Knowing that most cases of hepatitis are caused by viruses, they looked at what viruses “make the rounds” in the population. That’s why they mention Covid and adenoviruses. They haven’t found a culprit yet, so they continue searching, including “Laboratory testing for additional infections, chemicals and toxins”.

Interesting, all very recent cases

Weren't the mRNA vaccines suspected to cause this based on the Swedish study?

Careful, Musk hasn't bought HN yet.

You're right. I start experiencing a shadow ban, emailed HN, and they confirmed that my comments are low-quality, so, they've limited my account. They asked me to promise I will not get involved in flaming, pointed a bunch of "high-quality" comments I've made in the past, and they've said they will restore my unrestricted status if I promise to behave. Meanwhile, they encourage throwaway accounts!

The children aren't vaccinated. It's why you're getting downvoted. It has nothing to do with vaccine skepticism. If they were all vaccinated, I too would wonder if the vaccine had something to do with it. Maybe you're just toxic.

"Provocateur extraordinaire"

What's wrong with that?

Nothing. It is however usual for provocateurs expect a reaction from their provocateering - because otherwise, what's the point? So it's not obvious why you're not leaning back in your comfy chair with a nice glass of whiskey and a cigar, smiling to yourself at the downvotes and the shadow ban. Another job well done!

I don't mind or care about the downvotes; I don't think you got my point. Stop labeling people!

He didn't say the children were vaccinated. He asked a question about a study. It would be reasonable and constructive to reply with one or both of the following:

A: Vaccination doesn't appear to be an issue here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/12/uk-health-ag...

B: You're probably thinking of this Irish study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8264276/

> Maybe you're just toxic.

Now that was unwarranted.

It doesn’t say if the children had been vaccinated. I dont know about the Uk, but here in France they didn’t ask for children so young to be vaccinated.

From this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/15/who-monitors...

"Officials stressed there was “no link” between the cases and the Covid-19 vaccine, as none of the children affected by hepatitis had received a jab."

Children under the age of 12 in the U.K. are only just being allowed to vaccinate and there is no big push to do it like there was for adults.

In the linked report the initial 10 cases in Scotland and all were in the 11 month to 5 year old. In the Uk you have to be 5 to get a covid vaccine.

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