Description

Since the beginning of April 2022, over 300 probably cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origin have been detected in children across Europe, Israel, Japan and the United States of America. The severity is such that ~17% of the infected children had undergone liver transplantation and one death has been reported.

In this Special Edition EASL Studio episode, we will discuss the aetiology and epidemiology for this outbreak as well as the impact of this worrying development.

  • What makes these cases different?
  • How are various countries handling the outbreak?

The recently published, “The recent outbreak of acute severe hepatitis in children of unknown origin – what is known so far”, will provide you with more information. 

For more information, please visit:

ℹ️ Please click here to access the podcast version of this EASL Studio episode.

 

Moderators

 Hermien Hartog is consultant adult and paediatric liver transplant surgeon at the Liver Unit of University Hospitals Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, in Birmingham, UK.

Zeuzem Stefan Zeuzem, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Department of Medicine I at the Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany. Prof. Zeuzem completed his medical training at the Goethe University Medical School, Frankfurt, Germany; the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK and the Medical School, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Prof. Zeuzem subsequently completed postdoctoral fellowships in Endocrinology and Gastroenterology at the University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany. In addition, he undertook research sabbaticals at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Frankfurt and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine, Yale University Medical School, Connecticut, USA. From 2002 to 2006 he was a full Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine II at Saarland University Hospital, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
Aleksander Krag Aleksander Krag is EASL Vice-Secretary & Professor and Head of Hepatology at University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital. Main research areas are within complications to cirrhosis, portal hypertension and alcoholic liver disease. He is involved in a number of collaborations, including being Coordinator in the H2020 project GALAXY: Gut and liver axis in alcoholic liver fibrosis.

Faculty

 Hermien Hartog is consultant adult and paediatric liver transplant surgeon at the Liver Unit of University Hospitals Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, in Birmingham, UK.

Hartorg Hermien Hartog is consultant adult and paediatric liver transplant surgeon at the Liver Unit of University Hospitals Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, in Birmingham, UK. She is secretary-elect of the European Liver and Intestine Transplant Association (ELITA), a section of the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT). She completed her surgical training in 2014 and specialized in HPB, liver- and kidney transplant surgery at the Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before moving to the UK in 2020. Her current clinical interests and work include adult and paediatric liver transplantation, as well as intestinal transplantation. Her research focusses on perspectives in organ allocation for liver transplant candidates, management of post-transplant complications and patient-reported outcomes.
Philippa Easterbrook

Professor Philippa Easterbrook is Senior Scientist within the Global Hepatitis Programme in the HIV department at the World Health Organisation Headquarters in Geneva. For the last five years she has led the development and implementation of global normative guidance in the use of antiretroviral therapy, and hepatitis B and C management and testing, and support to low and middle-income countries in hepatitis testing and treatment scale-up. She served as Head of Research at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala during a sabbatical. Her research activities have encompassed epidemiology, clinical trials, operational and qualitative research, as well as collaborative pathogenesis studies on the mechanisms of resistance to HIV. She is the technical focal point and health operational pillar lead for the WHO headquarters Incident management team for severe acute hepatitis in children event.
Erika Duffell Dr Erika Duffell is a medically qualified public health professional specialised in the field of communicable disease control. Since 2011, she has worked for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm as an epidemiologist working on hepatitis. In this position, she was responsible for the implementation of the hepatitis surveillance, prevention, and control programme across EU/EEA countries. She subsequently led the further development of the regional surveillance programme for hepatitis to include sentinel methods, estimates of prevalence, morbidity and mortality monitoring. Dr Duffell works in close collaboration with partner agencies and related organisations e.g. WHO, EMCDDA, European Commission, etc in order to effectively support EU/EEA countries in their efforts to prevent and control hepatitis.
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