So far, 169 people have been reported, including 17 children and one of them died in the United Kingdom. 10 percent of the minors needed a liver transplant.

The clinical syndrome among identified cases is acute hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) with markedly elevated liver enzymes.

Many people – the WHO points out – “have gastrointestinal symptoms, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, which preceded the presentation of severe acute hepatitis, and elevated levels of liver enzymes (aspartate transaminase (AST) or alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) greater than 500 IU/L) and jaundice”.

Most of the cases did not present a fever, underlines the statement of the international organization. “The common viruses that cause acute viral hepatitis (hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E viruses)” have not been detected in any of these cases.

So far, international travel or links with other countries have not been identified as factors.

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