美国现首例不明原因儿童肝炎死亡病例，值得警惕的是……

据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）报道，威斯康星州卫生服务部门27日发布了一份健康警报，表示最近在当地儿童中发现了一组不明原因急性肝炎病例（acute hepatitis of unknown origin）。

在确定的四例病例中，两名儿童出现了严重症状，其中一名儿童需要进行肝移植，一名儿童死亡。如果确认死亡与该疾病有关，这将是美国目前报告的首例与该疾病相关的死亡病例，卫生部门要求当地医生密切关注该病情并及时报告。

Health officials in Wisconsin are investigating four cases of children with significant unexplained liver damage, including one child who needed a liver transplant and one who died. If the death is confirmed to be linked to the illness, it would be the first reported in the US. In a health alert issued Wednesday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services asked the state's doctors to be on the lookout for these unusual cases and report them.

据美国广播公司新闻网（ABC）28日报道，截止到当天，美国国内已有6个州报告了超过20例儿童肝炎病例。

图源：Getty Image

世界卫生组织23日发布公告称全球范围内已收到来自12个国家至少169例不明原因急性肝炎病例。

The UN health agency said late Saturday that it has so far received reports of at least 169 cases of "acute hepatitis of unknown origin" from a dozen countries.

其中114例在英国。而美国、西班牙、以色列、丹麦、爱尔兰、荷兰、意大利、挪威、法国、罗马尼亚和比利时也报告出现病例。

患者年龄在1个月到16岁之间。17名患者需要接受肝移植。（The cases were reported in children aged one month to 16 years old, and 17 of those who fell ill required liver transplants.）

值得警惕的是……

世卫组织全球肝炎项目的医学专家菲利帕·伊斯特布鲁克博士（Philippa Easterbrook）28日在新闻发布会上提到，“真正给专家们敲响警钟的是，这些儿童中的大多数（生病）以前都很健康。”

Dr Philippa Easterbrook, a senior scientist in the global hepatitis programme at the WHO, said during a Q&A on Thursday that such a rash of "severe hepatitis is unusual" in kids, and what's really setting off disease experts' alarm bells is the fact that "the majority of these children were previously healthy."

伊斯特布鲁克博士表示，这些儿童急性肝炎病例的病因仍然未知，肝炎通常是由感染引起的，但并非总是如此。目前“主要调查线索”之一是与腺病毒的潜在联系，但是尚未确定直接的关联。

此前世卫组织表示，在至少74例患者中检测到一种被称为腺病毒-41病毒。

Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, but further research is ongoing. 专家表示，这些病例可能与一种感冒病毒有关，但进一步的研究仍在进行中。 “While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent,” WHO said, noting that the virus has been detected in at least 74 of the cases. At least 20 of the children tested positive for the coronavirus. “腺病毒是一种假设，对病因的调查仍在进行中，”世卫组织指出，74例病例中检出普通感冒病毒腺病毒，20例病例中检测出新冠病毒。

腺病毒示意图 图源：Science Photo Library/Alamy

编辑：焦洁

来源：CNN USAToday 澎湃新闻