After detecting the first three cases of acute hepatitis with unknown origin two weeks ago, Indonesia has so far logged 15 cases, according to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on Monday.
Last week, the World Health Organization announced that it had received information of at least 228 probable cases of child hepatitis, or liver inflammation, from 20 countries.
Indonesia has discovered 15 cases since it started an investigation into the disease recently, according to Minister Sadikin, adding that authorities have not determined a definitive cause.
The majority of cases of acute hepatitis with unknown cause, according to Sadikin, have been reported in the U.k, which has seen over 100 cases.
Following that, there were cases in Italy, Spain, and the U.S.
On the day after the Idul Fitri holiday on May 2, he said the Indonesian government had been coordinating with disease control and prevention centers in the U.K. and the U.S.
It was reported on CBS News that three children in Indonesia have died of acute hepatitis, bringing the global death toll from the mysterious global outbreak of liver disease to four.
According to the Indonesian Health Ministry, three children died last month in hospitals in Jakarta, the country's capital, after experiencing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, jaundice, convulsions, and loss of consciousness.
A global outbreak of acute hepatitis, which is an inflammation of the liver, has killed a number of children, according to the WHO.
The children affected ranged in age from one month to sixteen years, with the majority being under the age of 10.
In healthy children, severe hepatitis with acute liver failure is uncommon. While no cause has been identified in the majority of the cases, many have been related to a strain of adenovirus, a common cold virus that does not usually cause hepatitis in healthy children.
Despite receiving a lot of details about the virus from these centers, Sadikin said the conclusion on what causes this case of acute hepatitis is still not final.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a nationwide warning, advising doctors to look for signs of pediatric hepatitis that could be caused by the common cold virus. When the cause of a child's hepatitis is unknown, the CDC suggests that doctors consider adenovirus testing.
Scientists are also investigating whether the adenovirus in question has mutated or is teaming up with another infection, possibly COVID-19.
