A few days before developing the severe form of acute hepatitis at the time of unknown origin, the child from Prato – who will turn 3 in June – was seen by doctors “for a modest respiratory condition. He had been at home for 3 days without having big problems. But then he came back here to the hospital because of the persistence of the fever “. Pierluigi Vasarri, director of the complex operating structure of Pediatrics and Neonatology of the New hospital in Prato, tells about it at Adnkronos Salute, where they were the first to take care of the little boy now hospitalized at the Bambino Gesù in Rome, where the liver transplant is evaluated. His case is in the spotlight because it investigates a possible correlation with the spike in mysterious hepatitis that is being recorded in several European countries, with particularly high numbers in the United Kingdom. The little one, of foreign origin and resident in Prato, “got worse within a few hours”, retraces Vasarri. The developed form of hepatitis “appears more severe than normal hepatitis – observes the expert – We see 6-7 a year, either from virus A or virus B, or even from cytomegalovirus, but so serious”, with a painting that degenerates “in such a short time, no”. “Having heard of the acute hepatitis clusters detected in England, Spain, Denmark, United States – continues the specialist – we were sensitized to the problem and we did several tests, immediately excluding all the most common causes of hepatitis that normally occur from bacteria, viruses and so on, including the search for cytomegalovirus and the mononucleosis virus which, however, did not give positive results. And we also did the search for this adenovirus of serotype 41 “, detected in several cases reported internationally,” but not yet we have this answer. “