Emma Thomson

UK experts believe they have identified The Cause of the recent spate of mysterious Liver problems affecting young Children around The World .

Investigations suggest two common viruses made a comeback after pandemic lockdowns ended - and triggered the rare But very serious hepatitis cases.

More Than 1,000 Children - Many under the Age Of Five - in 35 countries are thought to have been affected.

Some, including 12 in the UK, have needed a lifesaving Liver transplant.

The two teams of researchers, from London and Glasgow, say infants exposed later than Normal - because of Covid restrictions - missed Out on some early immunity to:

Noah, three, who lives in Chelmsford, Essex, needed an urgent Liver transplant after becoming dangerously ill with hepatitis.

His Mother , Rebecca Cameron-McIntosh, says The Experience has been devastating.

" He'd previously had nothing wrong with him, " she says. " And for it to suddenly go so quickly. I think that's what kind of took us by surprise.

" We've just assumed it was one little problem that will get easily sorted Out - But actually it just kept on snowballing. "

Initially, Rebecca was lined up to donate part of her Liver - But , after a serious reaction to drugs used, she ended up in intensive care.

Noah was put on the transplant list and, soon after, received a new organ.

His recovery has been Good - But he will need to take immunosuppressant drugs For Life , to stop his body rejecting the new Liver .

Rebecca says: " There is something really heartbreaking About That because you go along following The Rules , do what you are supposed to do to protect people that are vulnerable And Then , in some horrible roundabout way, your own child has become more vulnerable because you did what you were supposed to do. "

Cases Such as this are rare. Most Children who catch these types of viruses quickly recover.

It is unclear why some then develop Liver inflammation - But genetics might play a part.

Scientists have ruled Out any connection with coronavirus or Covid vaccines.

One of The Investigators , Prof Judith Breuer, an expert in virology, at University College London, said: " During the lockdown period when Children were not mixing, they were not transmitting viruses to each other.

" They were not building up immunity to the common infections they would normally encounter.

" When the restrictions were lifted, Children began to mix, viruses began to circulate freely - and they suddenly were exposed with this lack of prior immunity to a whole battery of new infections. "

Prof Emma Thomson , who led the University of Glasgow research, said there were still Many Unanswered Questions . " Larger studies are urgently needed to investigate The Role of AAV2 in paediatric hepatitis cases.

" We also need to understand more about seasonal circulation of AAV2, a Virus that is not routinely monitored - it may be that a peak of adenovirus infection has coincided with a peak in AAV2 exposure, leading to an unusual manifestation of hepatitis in susceptible young Children . "

Source of news: bbc.com