The research and pediatric hospital, also known as SickKids, says the cases were identified between Oct. 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022, and reported to Public Health Ontario (PHO).
“SickKids physicians from the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition are aware of the international reports concerning children with severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin,” said spokeswoman Jessamine Luck in a May 11 statement.
“They are looking out for patients with signs and symptoms of hepatitis such as new onset jaundice (yellow eyes), dark urine and/or pale stool that will require further testing, and are recommending a lower threshold for referral for specialist care.”
Luck said that every year the hospital sees children with severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin who, like the rest of their patient population, come from throughout Ontario and Canada. She could not say if the seven cases singled out by SickKids were different from prior years.
“It remains to be seen whether this number represents an increase in cases of unknown origin compared to similar time periods in previous years or if any of these cases will be confirmed to be caused by a novel clinical entity,” Luck said.
The Epoch Times sought comment from PHO and was referred to the provincial Ministry of Health (MOH).
MOH spokesman Bill Campbell said the seven cases at SickKids are in the “process of being officially reported to the appropriate health authorities.”
“The Chief Medical Officer of Health has reached out to primary care providers, paediatricians, and public health units and has requested clinicians be vigilant in watching for infants and children up to 16 years of age presenting with signs and symptoms of hepatitis,” Campbell said in a statement.
Worldwide Cases
On April 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that at least 169 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin had been reported from a dozen countries, with the UK having the most at 114.
“These cases are being reviewed by the province, and those that meet the case definition will be reported to PHAC to be included in the national investigation,” spokesperson Anne Génier said.
She added that the agency had alerted provincial and territorial public health authorities on April 14 to watch for potential cases and, like the SickKids’ assessment, PHAC could not identify the underlying cause.
She stressed that the agency is working closely with provincial, territorial, and international partners on “this evolving event.”
“We are prepared to carefully and thoroughly investigate any cases reported to PHAC that meet the national case definition. This will help us to determine the national scope in Canada, and to determine if cases of acute hepatitis in Canada may be related to other cases reported around the world.”
Vaccines Ruled Out
In its report, the CDC said it didn’t find any evidence that COVID-19 vaccines caused this outbreak of hepatitis among children as none of the initial patients in Alabama had received the vaccine.
The same day, the UK Health Security Agency reported that dating back to early January, the country’s case count rose to 163, with 11 children receiving liver transplants so far.
“Adenovirus remains the most frequently detected potential pathogen. Amongst 163 UK cases, 126 have been tested for adenovirus of which 91 had adenovirus detected,” said the agency. “Amongst cases the adenovirus has primarily been detected in blood.”
The report describes the case of a 52-year-old man in Germany who developed acute hepatitis two to three weeks after receiving an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.