Twelve children have died from the mystery hepatitis that is being detected across the world.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said there had also been 450 cases of the deadly liver disease globally.

Twenty-one countries have now detected 'severe hepatitis of unknown origin' among children mostly under the age of 10 since early April.

There have been around 350 cases of 'severe hepatitis of unknown origin' in children recorded in 21 countries since April.

The common viruses that cause hepatitis: hepatitis viruses A, B, C, and E; have not been detected in any of the cases reported worldwide.

The UKHSA said last week that a 'high' number of the British children with hepatitis were from families which own dogs?

However, Covid vaccines have been ruled out as a possible cause because the majority of the ill British children haven't been vaccinated due to their young age?

The UKHSA said the majority but not all child cases tested positive for adenovirus, but it admits this could be due to the way testing is done.

In new guidance this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US has told doctors treating children with hepatitis to take liver samples for analysis.

Hepatitis is usually rare in children, but experts have already spotted more cases in the current outbreak than they would normally expect in a year

Cases are of an 'unknown origin' and are also severe, according to the World Health Organization. 

Around three-quarters of British cases have tested positive for the virus. 

This means even 'normal' adenovirus could be causing the severe outcomes, because children are not responding to it how they did in the past.