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Watch for mild symptoms, health experts tell parents over 'mystery' hepatitis
Health experts are urging parents to take their children to a hospital or Puskesmas whenever they notice fever, nausea or loss of appetite for early detection and treatment.
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Indonesia has recorded seven suspected child deaths linked to acute severe hepatitis of unknown origin as of May 13, with 10 suspected cases and one probable case. (Pixabay/File)
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s the number of suspected cases of an unknown type of childhood hepatitis continues to grow, health workers are calling for parents and caregivers to be observant of milder symptoms early, such as fever, nausea and malaise in their children.
The Health Ministry has recorded seven suspected deaths linked to acute, severe hepatitis of unknown origin, as well as 17 suspected cases and one probable case as of Friday. Two of the deaths were later determined to be unrelated to the “mystery” hepatitis.
No known comorbidities have been associated with the disease so far, and none of the cases detected in Indonesia to date are confirmed cases of “acute severe hepatitis of unknown origin”, the name of the disease used by the World Health Organization (WHO).
President director Mohammad Syahril of Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital, one of the referral hospitals for testing specimens from suspected cases of acute hepatitis, said it was paramount that parents and caregivers were more vigilant of mild symptoms to prevent death during treatment.
While much remained to be learned about the unknown type of childhood hepatitis, Syahril said the majority of deaths were due to hospitals being unable to do much in treating heavier symptoms.
This was so with the first suspected and fatal cases of the unknown disease detected in three children aged 2, 8 and 11, who were treated for liver inflammation between April 15 to 30 at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Jakarta.
The three children, all of whom had been vaccinated against hepatitis and had tested negative for hepatitis types A through E, were referred to Cipto Mangunkusumo from smaller hospitals in East and West Jakarta after they had developed severe symptoms.
