Spain has registered 30 cases of acute hepatitis of unknown origins since the beginning of this year, a fresh situation report from the country’s Health Ministry shows.
The mysterious illness has primarily affected young children, with 24 of the patients aged 10 and below. None of the patients are related to each other, the ministry noted, with no epidemiological links established between the cases.
“It is necessary to continue intensive monitoring and continue investigations carried out to confirm or rule out whether there is an increase in cases of unknown hepatitis compared to what is expected,” the ministry noted on Friday, admitting that it was still unclear whether the cases surpassed its usual baseline or not.
The first patient had shown symptoms on January 2, according to the situation report. The finding suggests that the illness actually surfaced well before early April, when cases of acute hepatitis were reported by multiple, primarily European, countries, as well as by the US.