March 30, 2023

expert reaction to three papers looking at unexplained childhood hepatitis and adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2)

Three papers, published in Nature*, have looked at the causes of the unexplained childhood hepatitis outbreaks which occurred in 2022.

Prof Thomas Baumert, Professor of Medicine, Head of the Inserm Research Institute for Viral and Liver Diseases, University of Strasbourg; and Chair of Hepatology at the Center for Digestive Disease and Hepatology at the Strasbourg University Hospitals, said:

“It is good to see that the cause of these outbreaks has been finally elucidated. Similar findings by three independent studies give strong credibility to the results.

“Liver manifestations are common for many viruses and concomitant infection of several viruses as a cause of these outbreaks instead of a new pathogen provides also opportunity for prevention. The findings also highlight the impact of proper childhood vaccination and suggests we should think about developing additional vaccines for common pathogens.”

Three papers:

* ‘Adeno-associated virus 2 infection in children with non-A-E hepatitis’ by Antonia Ho et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Thursday 30 March 2023.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05948-2

‘Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children’ by Sofia Morfopoulou et al. was published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Thursday 30 March 2023.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06003-w

‘Adeno-associated virus type 2 in US children with acute severe hepatitis’ by Venice Servellita et al. was be published in Nature at 16:00 UK time on Thursday 30 March 2023.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05949-1

Declared interests

Prof Thomas Baumert: “No COI related to the topic.”