Jakarta (ANTARA) - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Mohammad Syahril said that at least 70 cases of suspected mysterious acute hepatitis in children have been reported from 21 provinces in Indonesia as of June 20, 2022.
"A total of 16 patients have probable status, 14 patients are pending classification, and 40 have been (classified as) discarded," he said at an online press conference accessed from here on Friday.
Probable cases are those where acute hepatitis caused by non-hepatitis A-E virus, with SGOT or SGPT above 500 IU/L, is suspected, with the patients aged less than 16 years as of October 1, 2021.
Cases pending classification are those where test results for hepatitis A-E, with SGOT or SGPT levels of above 500 IU/L, are awaited, with the patients aged below 16 years as of October 1, 2022.
Meanwhile, discarded cases are those where the patients have been confirmed with hepatitis A-E and other etiologies.
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Syahril informed that probable cases have so far been reported in North Sumatra (1), Sumatra (1), Jakarta (5), Riau (1), Jambi (1), Yogyakarta (1), West Kalimantan (1), Central Java (1), Bali (2), North Sulawesi (1), and Central Sulawesi (1).
The most common pathogen found in probable patients has been cytomegalovirus (CMV), or human herpesvirus. CMV has been detected in 4 of the 15 patients examined.
Meanwhile, viruses from the Herpesviridae family (CMV, HSV1, HHV-6A, HHV1, EBV) have been detected in 16 probable patients examined via metagenomic and PCR testing, Syahril said. Further, one patient has tested positive for enterovirus, and one patient has been found positive for adenovirus based on a rectal swab PCR.
"Of the 70 patients reported, there were 40 patients categorized as discarded, they were generally experiencing dengue, sepsis, and bacterial infections," the ministry spokesperson informed.
As for the global situation, he noted that as of May 26, 2022, 650 probable cases of mysterious acute hepatitis and 99 cases pending classification have been reported by 33 countries to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Related news: Indonesia records 24 suspected acute hepatitis cases
