The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that it is now looking into 180 reports of children with severe and sudden unexplained liver inflammation, known as acute hepatitis.

The first reports of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children popped up in October and November 2021, with five cases in Alabama.

have died from the mysterious liver disease.

Instead, about half of the children have tested positive for an adenovirus, a common virus that usually causes cold or flu-like symptoms and hasn’t previously been linked to liver disease in healthy children.

The liver inflammation is unrelated to covid-19 vaccines, as most of the affected children were not vaccinated.

In fact, in some cases, the children have tested positive for both adenovirus and covid-19 at the same time.