Outbreak of severe acute hepatitis of unknown cause in children in 2022: analysis of plausible pathogenic mechanism

Abstract

As of November 2022, 22 countries in Europe have reported 572 cases of severe acute hepatitis in children with unknown causes. The most common pathogens tested are human adenovirus and SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the researchers have proposed hypotheses about the possible etiological hypothesis of these 2 pathogens, but the existing test results cannot clarify the specific etiology and pathogenic mechanism yet. In this article, we aims to analyze the plausible pathogenic mechanism from the perspective of etiology and immunopathology in order to provide ideas for investigating the pathogenic mechanism.

Keywords

• children
• unknown cause severe acute hepatitis
• pathogenic mechanism
• adenovirus
• tissue tropism
• superantigen
• genetic predisposition