Mexican authorities confirmed yesterday Friday the first death of a child in the country due to acute hepatitis of unknown origin; it is also the first known death due to it in Latin America, as cases continue to rise internationally.
The child, three years old, from the state of Idalgo (central), had been hospitalized and treated in a hospital in the capital, where he succumbed this week, the Idalgo health secretariat said.
Three other suspected cases of the condition are being studied in the same state.
Hepatitis is not uncommon in children, but doctors have recently noted an alarming increase in cases of very severe inflammation of the liver in - otherwise healthy - children under the age of five.
On a global scale, deaths have now reached seven.
The causes of the condition remain unknown. The cases are not attributed to the most common forms of hepatitis (A, B, C, D and E), are not considered to be autoimmune, nor due to any form of poisoning.
Scientists are hypothesizing that "adenovirus 41 plays a role," a U.S. health official said yesterday, and they are also studying whether "prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 may play a role." however, COVID-19 vaccines are not on the list of possible causes as the vast majority of children who developed hepatitis internationally were not vaccinated - they were, after all, too young to have been vaccinated.
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