JAKARTA: Symptoms among children who contracted the mysterious acute hepatitis in Indonesia differ from other countries.
The health ministry revealed that fever and nausea were to the most common symptoms detected, Directorate General of Health secretary, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said, according to reports in the Antara news agency.
“Our clinical symptom (in Indonesia) is fever. While the most common symptom abroad (in the UK for instance) is jaundice. So, if we look at Indonesia, the most common symptoms are fever, nausea, and vomiting,” she said.
Siti Nadia said this at a webinar where the discussion was themed “Knowing More about Mysterious Acute Hepatitis in Children,” here on Friday.
The ministry, as of June 23, has recorded 70 suspected cases of acute hepatitis from 21 provinces across Indonesia.
Siti Nadia said the most common symptoms reported by patients were fever (76.7 percent); nausea, vomiting, and jaundice (66.7 percent); and loss of appetite (50 percent).
The symptoms were different from those reported in other countries, such as the UK, she said.
In the UK, the most common symptoms were jaundice (66.8 percent), vomiting (57.6 percent), lethargy (48.6 percent), diarrhea (43.1 percent), and change in stool color to pale (42.7 percent).
The Health ministry, with all relevant parties such as the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), will continue to promote awareness about the disease through educational information communication.
Information disseminated through the activity covers symptoms, case management, as well as health facilities and laboratories that can be used as referral services in the regions.
“The community and community health centres (Puskesmas) still need to be vigilant. If there are reports of cases of jaundice being treated in a hospital or reported at Puskesmas, it is necessary to carry out an epidemiological investigation,” she said.
She also emphasised that human-to-human transmission of mysterious acute hepatitis has yet to be confirmed since out of all the patients who are still being monitored, none of their family members or close contacts experienced the same symptoms.
“Out of the total probable cases, we conducted an epidemiological investigation before and after the patient became ill. But none of the other family members have tested positive,” said Tarmizi, who is also a spokesperson for Covid-19 vaccination at the Health ministry.
Source: New Straits Times
