How much speculation has there been about the cause of the nearly 1,000 cases of hepatitis in children that have been detected in over 30 countries since spring? None of the usual suspicious pathogens came into question, other obvious causes were quickly ruled out and so science puzzled: Is it autoimmune inflammation as a result of a corona infection? Does a cold pathogen attack the liver cells? Was the immune system suddenly overrun by pathogens after the corona protection measures were removed?
Now it turns out that there is a little bit of everything. Two groups of researchers were able to show this week that a double infection with viruses common to dogs and a rare genetic constitution are required. All of this was already in place before the pandemic, albeit sporadically, experts estimate. The fact that there have now been mass cases is probably due to the end of many protective measures, which means that many children have become infected for the first time with the viruses that cause their immune system to attack the liver.
A new pathogen, a new disease, the world is already looking at science: Explain why, why, but please quickly and easily and as compatible as possible with your own worldview. News sites, newspapers, television and radio make the desire even more urgent and in turn contribute to the premature explanation tsunami. And if they don’t deliver, the audience’s attention flies to the information service provider that has something to offer.
Not knowing something yet, yet not panicking, moving on based on the most reasonable assumptions currently available, is an exercise that the coronavirus has been asking humanity to do for more than two years. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t help much when dealing with other unclear situations in life. Be it climate change, the economic crisis, the war in Ukraine or the question of whether interest rates on loans will continue to rise.
There is also a lot of “probable”, “could be”, “indication of” in the explanations for the mysterious childhood hepatitis. Here, too, new investigations can overturn the currently best explanations in a week. The cases of hepatitis, which are perhaps no longer so puzzling, are another teaching unit in the strenuous but necessary subject “Dealing with uncertain knowledge”.