As “Heute” reported, two children in Vienna are currently suffering from the new, mysterious form of hepatitis. Now there was European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) further details on the cases known. Accordingly, both of those affected are under ten years old and had previously had a corona infection. A child also tested positive for adenoviruses – health experts suspect that this type of virus is harmless in itself (it triggers colds, ed.) is the reason for the accumulation of unexplained hepatitis diseases.

The suspected hepatitis cases in Austria became known last Monday, and by Tuesday it was already fixed: “The two cases have been confirmed according to the UK case definition and have been reported to the European authorities,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health “Today”.

Bub has been in treatment since the end of 2021

The patients – both are cared for in the St. Anna Children’s Hospital – are a girl who, according to the treating pediatrician, the hepatologist Andreas Vécsei, was admitted as an inpatient, and a boy. He has been treated as an outpatient in the children’s hospital every two weeks since the end of last year because of chronic diarrhea.

Both children were tested after the onset of symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, jaundice and elevated liver enzyme levels. The classic hepatitis viruses (A to E) were not detectable, so this is the new, mysterious form of hepatitis. The boy and the girl – both are not vaccinated against Corona – have a mild form of the disease and are on the mend.

More than 200 cases worldwide

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 200 children worldwide are already affected. In Great Britain, the number of sick children has already risen to 145, and in general most cases have occurred in Europe. So far, mostly healthy, immune-strong children between the ages of one month and 16 years have been infected. Jaundice is often preceded by gastrointestinal disease with vomiting, diarrhea and nausea.