VOA健康报道2022 儿童神秘肝炎的病因是什么?（在线收听）

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

卫生官员仍在寻找与世界各地数百名儿童严重肝损伤的神秘病例有关的解决办法。

The best available evidence points to a common stomach virus not known to cause liver problems in otherwise healthy children.

现有的最佳证据指向一种常见的胃病毒，已知这种病毒不会使得健康的儿童出现肝脏问题。

That virus was found in the blood of sick children, but it has not been found in their diseased livers.

这种病毒是在患病儿童的血液中发现的，但在他们患病的肝脏中没有发现它。

Eric Kremer is a virus researcher at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier in France.

埃里克·克莱默是法国蒙彼利埃分子遗传学研究所的病毒研究员。

He said, "There's a lot of things that don't make sense."

他说：“有很多事情都说不通。”

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

美国疾病控制与预防中心和世界各地的卫生官员都在努力查明这是怎么回事。

The illnesses are considered rare.

这些疾病被认为是罕见的。

CDC officials recently said they are now looking into 180 possible cases across the United States.

美国疾病控制与预防中心的官员最近表示，他们正在调查全美国的180例疑似病例。

Most of the children were hospitalized.

大多数儿童都在医院接受治疗。

At least 15 required new livers and six died.

至少15人需要新的肝脏，6人死亡。

More than 20 other countries have reported hundreds more cases in total.

其他20多个国家总共报告了数百例病例。

The largest numbers have been in Britain and the U.S.

病例最多的是英国和美国。

Some signs of liver inflammation include fever, tiredness, loss of interest in eating and nausea.

肝脏炎症的一些症状包括发烧、疲劳、食欲不振和恶心。

Others include stomach pain, joint pain and jaundice--a condition that causes a person's skin to turn yellow.

其他症状包括胃痛、关节痛和黄疸——一种导致皮肤变黄的疾病。

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

疾病专家表示，他们数月来一直在研究这种神秘的疾病，但一直难以找到确切的病因。

The usual causes of liver inflammation in otherwise healthy children come from viruses known as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

其他健康儿童肝脏发炎的常见原因是甲型、乙型、丙型、丁型和戊型肝炎病毒。

But none of those viruses appeared in tests.

但这些病毒都没有出现在检测中。

The children came from different places and there seemed to be no common means of virus contact.

这些儿童来自不同的地方，似乎没有共同的病毒接触方式。

What did show up in tests was a virus known as adenovirus 41.

在测试中发现的是一种被称为腺病毒41型的病毒。

More than half of the U.S. cases have tested positive for adenovirus.

美国超过一半的病例的腺病毒检测呈阳性。

In a small number of tests to see what kind of adenovirus was present, adenovirus 41 appeared every time.

在确定哪一种腺病毒的少数测试中，腺病毒41型每次都出现。

Dr. Jay Butler is the deputy director for infectious diseases at the CDC.

杰伊·巴特勒博士是美国疾病控制与预防中心传染病部门的副主任。

He told the Associated Press that the fact that adenovirus keeps appearing strengthens the possibility that it plays a part in the illness.

他告诉美联社，腺病毒不断出现的事实增强了它在该疾病中发挥作用的可能性。

But it is still unclear how.

但目前仍不清楚它是如何发挥作用的。

Many adenoviruses are related to signs of the common cold, such as fever, sore throat and pink eye.

许多腺病毒与普通感冒的症状有关，如发烧、喉咙痛和红眼病。

Some versions--including adenovirus 41--can cause other problems, such as inflammation in the stomach and intestines.

有些病毒——包括腺病毒41型——可能会引起其他问题，例如肠胃炎。

Adenoviruses have been linked in the past to hepatitis in children, but mostly in children with weakened immune systems.

过去曾发现腺病毒与儿童肝炎有关，但主要是免疫系统较弱的儿童。

Dr. Umesh Parashar is head of the CDC group that studies gut diseases caused by viruses.

乌梅什·帕拉沙尔博士是美国疾病控制与预防中心研究病毒引起的肠道疾病小组的负责人。

He said recent genetic studies do not suggest that a single new version of adenovirus is to blame.

他说，最近的基因研究并没有表明某种新型腺病毒是罪魁祸首。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

乔纳森·埃文斯为您播报。