VOA健康报道2022--不明原因儿童肝炎的病因是什么？

What Causes Mystery Liver Illnesses in Children?

Health officials are still looking for answers related to mysterious cases of severe liver damage in hundreds of young children around the world.

The best available evidence points to a common stomach virus not known to cause liver problems in otherwise healthy children. That virus was found in the blood of sick children, but it has not been found in their diseased livers.

Eric Kremer is a virus researcher at the Institute of Molecular¹ Genetics of Montpellier in France. He said, "There's a lot of things that don't make sense."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health officials around the world are trying to find out what is going on.

The illnesses are considered rare. CDC officials recently said they are now looking into 180 possible cases across the United States. Most of the children were hospitalized. At least 15 required new livers and six died.

More than 20 other countries have reported hundreds more cases in total. The largest numbers have been in Britain and the U.S.

Some signs of liver inflammation include fever, tiredness, loss of interest in eating and nausea³. Others include stomach pain, joint⁴ pain and jaundice – a condition that causes a person's skin to turn yellow.

Disease experts say they have been working on the mystery illness for months but have struggled to find an exact cause.

The usual causes of liver inflammation in otherwise healthy children come from viruses known as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. But none of those viruses appeared in tests. The children came from different places and there seemed to be no common means of virus contact.

What did show up in tests was a virus known as adenovirus 41. More than half of the U.S. cases have tested positive for adenovirus. In a small number of tests to see what kind of adenovirus was present, adenovirus 41 appeared every time.

Dr. Jay Butler is the deputy director for infectious diseases at the CDC. He told the Associated Press that the fact that adenovirus keeps appearing strengthens the possibility that it plays a part in the illness. But it is still unclear how.

Many adenoviruses are related to signs of the common cold, such as fever, sore throat and pink eye. Some versions — including adenovirus 41 — can cause other problems, such as inflammation in the stomach and intestines⁵. Adenoviruses have been linked in the past to hepatitis in children, but mostly in children with weakened immune systems.

Dr. Umesh Parashar is head of the CDC group that studies gut⁶ diseases caused by viruses. He said recent genetic² studies do not suggest that a single new version of adenovirus is to blame.

Words in This Story

inflammation – n. a bodily response to injury or disease in which heat, redness, and swelling⁷ are present

nausea – n. a disturbed and unpleasant condition of the stomach; the feeling of being about to vomit⁸

pink eye – n. a contagious infection that causes the eye and inner part of the eyelid to become red and sore

1 molecular   

adj.分子的；克分子的

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
• For the pressure to become zero, molecular bombardment must cease.当压强趋近于零时，分子的碰撞就停止了。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

3 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

6 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

7 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

8 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。