The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm over a significant increase in cases of “severe myocarditis” among newborns and infants in Wales and England.
The WHO issued a warning on Tuesday, drawing attention to a worrying increase in these severe cases of myocarditis between June 2022 and March 2023 and recommending increased awareness and further investigation into the underlying causes.
“On 5 April 2023, the National IHR Focal Point for the United Kingdom informed WHO of an increase in severe myocarditis in neonates associated with enterovirus infection in Wales,” according to the news release.
There were ten newborns hospitalized with myocarditis, and one of them died.
“Between June 2022 and April 2023, ten hospitalized neonates with a positive enterovirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test were found to have myocarditis. Seven of the ten cases had further subtyping, with either coxsackie B3 or coxsackie B4 identified. As of 5 May 2023, one patient