1 Patient Dies In Jakarta Suspected Of Acute Hepatitis Not Protected By COVID Vaccine

Spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi (Via Antara)

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that one child patient in Jakarta who was reported to have died, allegedly due to acute hepatitis with severe symptoms, had not received the COVID-19 or hepatitis vaccine.

"Investigating the contacts of these three cases, we know that the patient arrived at the hospital in an advanced stage. It only gave the hospital a little time to provide relief measures," said Siti Nadia Tarmizi in a virtual press conference attended by Zoom in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday. , May 5th.

Nadia said the three patients, each aged 2 years, had not received the COVID-19 and hepatitis AE vaccinations. Meanwhile, patients aged 8 years had received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccination and 11 years old had received two complete doses of vaccination.

The three patients were reported negative for COVID-19 based on medical examinations at the hospital. The Ministry of Health together with the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Office have conducted a contact investigation to determine the risk factors present in the patient.

"From the available data, one case has had another disease before the patient was diagnosed with suspected acute hepatitis," he said.

Nadia, who also serves as Secretary of the Directorate General of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, said that the Ministry of Health has not classified the incident as a case of severe acute hepatitis because there is still a further phase of investigation in the form of laboratory tests, especially examination of Adenovirus and Hepatitis E, which will take 10-14 days.

"We haven't classified it into acute hepatitis with severe symptoms, but it has just entered the pending classification criteria because there are still laboratory tests," he said.

Nadia said that from the three patients, there was no family history of hepatitis congenital disease. "None of the three children had a history of the same symptoms," he said.

The main complaint experienced by the patient before being taken to the hospital, said Nadia, came from the gastrointestinal tract such as severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

The three pediatric patients were reported to have died at Dr. RSUPN. Ciptomangunkusumo Jakarta in a different period of time from the last two weeks until April 30, 2022. These three patients are referrals from hospitals in East Jakarta and West Jakarta.