Enlarge / Liver lesions in patient with chronic active hepatitis C. (credit: Getty | BSIP)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a health alert Thursday notifying clinicians of a US-based cluster of unexplained cases of liver inflammation in young children, which appear to be part of a puzzling international outbreak that now spans at least 10 countries and two US states.
According to the CDC, Alabama has seen nine cases of unexplained liver inflammation—aka hepatitis—in children between the ages of one and six since October of last year. Two of the cases resulted in liver transplants, though no deaths have been reported. Health officials took notice of the unexplained illnesses after a cluster of five cases presented at one children's hospital in the state last November, with three of those cases involving acute liver failure. The state has since identified four other cases through February, 2022.
According to reporting by Stat News, North Carolina is also investigating two cases in school-aged children, neither of which required transplants.
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