The bizarre rise in children being diagnosed with severe acute hepatitis had all the makings of a medical mystery. There was no tangible cause, and it didn't seem to be related to COVID-19. Some of the cases were so severe that children had to receive liver transplants, as the CDC noted in a health advisory issued in April 2022. In Minnesota, a four-week-old became Minnesota's youngest-ever liver transplant recipient. In Alabama, two children needed liver transplants. In Wisconsin, one child needed a liver transplant and one died.
More peculiarly, the incidence of hepatitis in children wasn't confined to the United States. In the United Kingdom, 10 children required a liver transplant out of the 114 cases that were been reported in the region. The World Health Organization stated this week that it has received reports of at least 228 probable cases of pediatric hepatitis with dozens more under investigation.
