Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Investigates As Child Hepatitis Outbreak Spreads To 36 States
USA Today: 6th Child Dies From Hepatitis Outbreak In 36 States; CDC Seeks Answers
A spreading hepatitis outbreak that killed six children has infectious disease experts scrambling to find answers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the sixth death last week. The CDC said the outbreak of the liver disease has expanded to 180 reported youth patients across 36 states and territories over the past seven months. The number of cases increased by 71 in two weeks, but the CDC said most of those were "retrospective" patients who may have been ill weeks or months earlier. "Not all are recent, and some may ultimately wind up not being linked to this current investigation," the CDC said in a statement. The agency said testing ruled out some of the viruses that commonly cause hepatitis. (Bacon, 5/22)
Reuters: Mexico Reports First Death Of Child From Mysterious Severe Hepatitis
Mexican authorities confirmed on Friday the first death of a child from a severe form of hepatitis with unknown origin in the country, marking the first death in Latin America as cases spread worldwide. The three-year-old child, originally from the central state of Hidalgo, was transferred to a hospital in Mexico City, but died this week, the Hidalgo Health Secretariat said. (5/20)
NBC News: Unexplained Hepatitis: No New Clues In The Apparent Uptick In Strange Pediatric Illness
Most of the new cases were the result of a retrospective analysis, Dr. Jay Butler, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s deputy director for infectious diseases, said Friday. That is, doctors looked back on their patients over the past seven months to find previously unidentified cases. A handful, he said, were new cases that occurred in the past two weeks. ... Testing in recent cases has revealed that about half had evidence of an adenovirus, specifically adenovirus type 41. But there is no proof yet that the virus — which usually causes mild upset stomach — is behind the liver inflammation. (Edwards, 5/20)
