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Pediatric Acute Hepatitis
Pediatric Acute Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus. Hepatitis can be an acute (short-term) illness or a chronic (long-term) illness. The CDC and state/local health departments are investigating a cluster of cases in children less than 10 years with elevated AST or ALT >500 IU/L with unknown etiology for their hepatitis since Oct 1, 2021. Clinicians should report suspect patients to their local health departments and discuss submission of available specimen. All specimens will be routed through our state laboratories and will require prior approval before submission. For additional information, please reference the past two CDC Health Alerts on the investigation, along with guidance for testing suspect patients and a medical abstraction form to use if additional details are requested by public health.