The four suspected cases were identified in the health regions of the North, Centre and Lisbon and Tagus Valley and all tested negative for hepatitis A, B and C and for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with results for hepatitis E still awaiting in two situations, reveals the DGS in a statement.

According to the health authority, one of the cases has already tested positive for adenovirus, and the sample has been sent for sequencing to the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge.

“The children had symptoms in April and were hospitalised, but none had serious complications, having recovered from the clinical picture”, says the health authority, stressing that epidemiological factors such as travel or connections between cases are under investigation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

In the context of the international outbreak, a 'taskforce' was set up by the DGS, which includes specialists from the Portuguese Society of Paediatrics (SPP).

On April 15, the World Health Organization issued an alert about the increase in the number of cases of severe acute hepatitis in healthy children.

So far, the largest number of cases have occurred in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, and were more frequent in children between 3 and 5 years of age.