The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health advisory asking physicians nationwide to be aware of unusual cases of severe hepatitis in children.
In November 2021, clinicians at a large children’s hospital in Alabama notified CDC of five pediatric patients with significant liver injury, including three with acute liver failure, who also tested positive for adenovirus. All children were previously healthy.
None had COVID-19. Case-finding efforts at this hospital identified four additional pediatric patients with hepatitis and adenovirus infection for a total of nine patients admitted from October 2021 through February 2022; all five that were sequenced had adenovirus type 41 infection identified. In two patients, plasma samples were negative for adenovirus by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), but both patients were positive when retested using whole blood. Two patients required liver transplant; no patients died. A possible association between pediatric hepatitis and adenovirus infection is currently under investigation. Cases of pediatric hepatitis in children who tested negative for hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, and E were reported earlier this month in the United Kingdom, including some with adenovirus infection.
This Health Advisory serves to notify US clinicians who may encounter pediatric patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology to consider adenovirus testing and to elicit reporting of such cases to state public health authorities and to CDC. Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT, e.g. PCR) is preferred for adenovirus detection and may be performed on respiratory specimens, stool or rectal swabs, or blood.
Recommendations
- Clinicians should consider adenovirus testing in pediatric patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology. NAAT (e.g. PCR) is preferable and may be done on respiratory specimens, stool or rectal swabs, or blood.
- Anecdotal reports suggest that testing whole blood by PCR may be more sensitive than testing plasma by PCR; therefore, testing of whole blood could be considered in those without an etiology who tested negative for adenovirus in plasma samples.
Request for Notification of Possible Cases
CDC is requesting notification from clinicians or state public health authorities of children <10 years of age with elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (>500 U/L) who have an unknown etiology for their hepatitis (with or without any adenovirus testing results, independent of the results) since October 1, 2021.
Please email CDC at ncirddvdgast@cdc.gov to notify of any cases meeting the above criteria or with any related questions.
If patients are still under medical care or have residual specimens available, please save and freeze them for possible additional testing and contact CDC at ncirddvdgast@cdc.gov for additional instructions.