Di Maio Velia Chiara, Gentile Leonarda, Scutari Rossana, Colagrossi Luna, Coltella Luana, Ranno Stefania, Linardos Giulia, Liccardo Daniela, Basso Maria Sole, Pietrobattista Andrea, Landi Simona, Forqué Lorena, Ciofi Degli Atti Marta, Ricotta Lara, Onetti Muda Andrea, Maggiore Giuseppe, Raponi Massimiliano, Perno Carlo Federico, Russo Cristina
Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy.
Multimodal Laboratory Research Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy.
Microorganisms. 2024 Apr 19;12(4):826. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12040826.
This study described 17 cases of children admitted to the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital with acute hepatitis of unknown origin between mid-April and November 2022. Following the World Health Organization's working case definition of probable cases, 17 children, with a median age of 2.1 years (interquartile range: 1.0-7.1), presenting with acute hepatitis non-AE, with serum transaminase >500 IU/L, were included in the study. A pre-specified set of microbiological tests was performed on different biological specimens for all pediatric patients. All patients resulted negative for the common hepatotropic viruses. The most common pathogen detected in blood specimens was human-herpes-virus-7 (52.9%). Adenovirus was detected more frequently in stool specimens (62.5%) than in respiratory (20.0%) or blood samples (17.6%). Regarding Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, one child tested positive two days after admission, while antibodies against spike and nucleoprotein were present in 82.3% of patients. A co-pathogen detection was observed in 94.1% of children. Overall, 16 children recovered without clinical complications, while one patient required liver transplantation. In these cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin, adenovirus was mainly detected in stool samples. A co-pathogen detection was also frequently observed, suggesting that the etiology of this acute hepatitis is most probably multifactorial.
本研究描述了2022年4月中旬至11月期间入住 Bambino Gesù儿童医院的17例不明原因急性肝炎患儿。按照世界卫生组织可能病例的工作病例定义,纳入了17名儿童,中位年龄为2.1岁(四分位间距:1.0 - 7.1),表现为非AE型急性肝炎,血清转氨酶>500 IU/L。对所有儿科患者的不同生物标本进行了一组预先指定的微生物检测。所有患者常见嗜肝病毒检测均为阴性。血液标本中检测到的最常见病原体是人类疱疹病毒7型(52.9%)。腺病毒在粪便标本中的检出率(62.5%)高于呼吸道标本(20.0%)或血液标本(17.6%)。关于严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2(SARS-CoV-2)感染,1名儿童入院两天后检测呈阳性,而82.3%的患者存在针对刺突蛋白和核蛋白的抗体。94.1%的儿童检测到合并病原体。总体而言,16名儿童康复且无临床并发症,而1名患者需要进行肝移植。在这些不明原因急性肝炎病例中,腺病毒主要在粪便样本中检测到。也经常观察到合并病原体检测,这表明这种急性肝炎的病因很可能是多因素的。