A British scientist investigating a mysterious global hepatitis outbreak that has infected hundreds of children globally believes researchers are getting closer to identifying its cause as more clues begin to emerge.
Judith Breuer, professor of virology and director of the pathogen genomics unit at University College London, was approached by the UK Health Security Agency to investigate a cluster of cases detected in Scotland last month.
She and a research team at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London are using metagenomics, the study of genetic material, to analyse which viruses are present in the RNA and DNA samples belonging to affected children in the hope it can offer insight into the source of the outbreak.
Although firm conclusions have yet to be made, adenovirus and immune systems weakened by coronavirus lockdowns are thought to be key factors.
What do we know so far?
At least 348 children around the world have been diagnosed with this new hepatitis, with some being forced to undergo liver transplants and some countries, such as Ireland and Indonesia, reporting a small number of deaths.
As of May 12, the HSA reported 176 confirmed cases of sudden onset hepatitis in under-10s in Britain. At least 11 of those have had liver transplants.
The cases are predominantly in children under 5, who showed initial symptoms of gastroenteritis, including diarrhoea and nausea, followed by the onset of jaundice.
None of the usual viruses that cause hepatitis (hepatitis viruses A to E) have been found in the children who have suffered from the recent cases.
What is the role of the adenovirus?
Many of the children who have fallen ill with the condition have tested positive for adenovirus, a typically harmless family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging from conjunctivitis and pneumonia to the common cold.
Previous findings showed that 91 out of 126 children had adenovirus in their bloodstream.
Prof Breuer says her team is monitoring numerous different examples of adenovirus, including F41, a common type known to cause gastrointestinal problems in children, but which rarely develops into serious illness.
"It's difficult to know whether adenovirus is going around at the moment or if it is just an incidental finding," she told The National. "They're quite difficult to determine what type it is just from ordinary laboratory tests."
Other causes
Prof Breuer also indicated that the HHV-6, a herpes virus which infects young children and sometimes causes hepatitis, has been discovered in the liver samples and may be one of the competing explanations.
Another virus, known as AAV2 or adeno-associated virus has been found "at the highest levels" in all of the liver samples and some theories suggest that it is latent in the body until it is triggered by inflammation or a "catastrophic happening".
Researchers are also looking at whether the hepatitis is an abnormal immunological response within the children to these viruses. Prof Breuer said the cause could be either of these, or perhaps all of the above and that concrete answers remain frustratingly elusive.
Genetic sequencing has revealed that the hepatitis has not been caused by a novel virus, which Prof Breuer says is a welcome development.
Has Covid played a part?
Researchers have also looked at whether Sars-Cov-2, and in particular the Omicron variant, could be to blame for the outbreak of hepatitis in children.
Prof Breuer says Omicron's role is a "big question" but admitted "we don't have the answer".
Although many of the children have tested positive for Covid, metagenomic tests have seemed to play down an adverse reaction to Omicron as the main cause.
"We haven't found Omicron in our tests as a whole but it has certainly has been found in some children," Prof Breuer said. "We haven't found it from our metagenomics, for example. So at the moment, it remains uncertain what role it might in the in the genesis of this of this problem".
However, she does believe that social distancing resulting from coronavirus lockdowns may have resulted in lowered immune systems as viruses begin to circulate all at once.
"It's difficult to exclude the fact that this has happened now and it has not really been observed before," Prof Breuer said. "So I would speculate that something to do with the pandemic has actually affected this."
"It was such an upheaval, it's such as a schism in our lives. Who knows what impact that will have had on our immune systems and on the pathogens that are circulating?"
With vaccine scepticism still a widespread issue, Prof Breuer said the children are too young to have received their coronavirus shots and vaccination is not a line of inquiry.
What should parents do?
Prof Breuer said she was hopeful that the outbreak may have peaked and said that recent evidence showed the rate of increase in cases was falling.
However, she said she was unsure as to why Britain seems to be the epicentre of this outbreak as it accounts for nearly half of all global cases. Health authorities in Britain may have been more vigilant, Prof Breuer says, and expects the rest of the world will soon catch up.
In lieu of government advice, concerned parents have been urged to practise good hygiene and to seek medical advice if their children show symptoms of hepatitis, which include yellow or pale eyes and discoloured faeces.
"It's difficult to know what one would do without knowing what causes it," Prof Breuer said. "We're still trying to investigate what causes it and to take time and do the tests rigorously.
"I think the advice that has been given people is to practice good hygiene. We can't really say anything specific about what people should do to prevent it, we would not be correct in doing that."
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGrowdash%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJuly%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESean%20Trevaskis%20and%20Enver%20Sorkun%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERestaurant%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24750%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Plus%20VC%2C%20Judah%20VC%2C%20TPN%20Investments%20and%20angel%20investors%2C%20including%20former%20Talabat%20chief%20executive%20Abdulhamid%20Alomar%2C%20and%20entrepreneur%20Zeid%20Husban%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
%3Cp%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Renan%20Ferreira%20v%20Ryan%20Bader%20%3Cbr%3EMiddleweight%3A%20Impa%20Kasanganay%20v%20Johnny%20Eblen%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Jesus%20Pinedo%20v%20Patricio%20Pitbull%3Cbr%3ECatchweight%3A%20Ray%20Cooper%20III%20v%20Jason%20Jackson%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EShowcase%20Bouts%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Bruno%20Cappelozza%20(former%20PFL%20World%20champ)%20v%20Vadim%20Nemkov%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3ELight%20Heavyweight%3A%20Thiago%20Santos%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Yoel%20Romero%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Clay%20Collard%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20AJ%20McKee%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Gabriel%20Braga%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Aaron%20Pico%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Biaggio%20Ali%20Walsh%20(pro%20debut)%20v%20Emmanuel%20Palacios%20(pro%20debut)%3Cbr%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20Lightweight%3A%20Claressa%20Shields%20v%20Kelsey%20DeSantis%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Abdullah%20Al%20Qahtani%20v%20Edukondal%20Rao%3Cbr%3EAmateur%20Flyweight%3A%20Malik%20Basahel%20v%20Vinicius%20Pereira%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic
Power: 375bhp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh332,800
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
Tips for avoiding trouble online
- Do not post incorrect information and beware of fake news
- Do not publish or repost racist or hate speech, yours or anyone else’s
- Do not incite violence and be careful how to phrase what you want to say
- Do not defame anyone. Have a difference of opinion with someone? Don’t attack them on social media
- Do not forget your children and monitor their online activities
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
