Following the news that the recent severe hepatitis outbreak may be linked to the F41 strain of the adenovirus (hepatitis);

Emily Martyn, MPH, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“The world has experienced a viral pandemic and set up infrastructure in response. Countries can now proactively leverage these tools, such as open data genomic sequencing, and the World Health Organization’s ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator’, and open source data, to manage this hepatitis outbreak, rather than reacting to it. This will prevent the outbreak from becoming any more serious as countries work together to keep each other up-to-date with the latest cases.

“We need public and private investment to research this strain of hepatitis, learn how to manage it, and rapidly bring the relevant drugs to market. This includes investigating existing marketed drugs to determine which ones are most effective in treating this patient population or developing new drugs if existing drugs are unsuitable. New drugs can utilise the COVID-19 fast track route to bring these drugs to these patients sooner, preventing further serious illness and potential deaths.

“This outbreak is affecting some of the most vulnerable members of society. Presently, 169 children have been affected globally, with 111 cases in the UK alone. Of these children, eleven have now received a liver transplant and one child has died. The number of infected children is only set to grow.

“We have learned many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, from public health messaging to long-term management. There is no excuse for forgetting these lessons. Nations can continue to work collaboratively, just as before, to address and manage this outbreak successfully.”