Washington, May 1 (IANS): Adenovirus may have caused an outbreak of nine severe hepatitis cases in children in the US state of Alabama, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

All the nine kids with severe acute hepatitis tested positive for adenovirus and none of them had a history of Covid-19 infection, Xinhua news agency quoted the CDC as saying.

Three of the kids suffered liver failure and two needed liver transplants. They have either recovered or are recovering.

The CDC said adenovirus may be the cause of these reported cases, but other potential environmental and situational factors are still being investigated.

Adenovirus type 41 typically presents as diarrhoea, vomiting and fever, often accompanied by respiratory symptoms, according to the CDC.

While there have been reports of hepatitis cases in immunocompromised children with adenovirus infection, adenovirus type 41 is not known to be a cause of hepatitis in otherwise healthy children, said the CDC.