Hanifah Oswari: Severe Acute Hepatitis Linked To COVID-19 Is Not True

Illustration, hepatitis. (photo: doc. between)

JAKARTA – Along with the emergence of the mysterious Hepatitis disease, there are also hoax news that accompany the disease. Some even link this disease to the COVID-19 vaccination. For that experts also need to straighten this out.

Consultant Pediatrician Gastrohepatology, Hanifah Oswari, stated that the relationship between severe acute hepatitis and adenovirus in the COVID-19 vaccine is an incorrect narrative.

"I would like to take this opportunity to explain that this incident (severe acute hepatitis) associated with COVID-19 is not true. There is no evidence of a relationship with the COVID-19 vaccine," said Hanifah Oswari when delivering a virtual press statement followed by Zoom on Jakarta, Thursday afternoon, May 5th.

Previously, the Journal of Hepatology, published on April 21, 2022, wrote a report "Sars-CoV-2 vaccination can cause Hepatitis CD8 T-cell dominant,". Adenovirus 41 was found in two children who underwent liver transplantation due to severe acute hepatitis in the United States.

The pediatrician at Mitra Keluarga Hospital, Kelapa Gading Jakarta, said that until now there has been no corroborating information that says Adenovirus is directly related to severe acute hepatitis.

"It's still possible that it happened simultaneously, but not directly related," he said.

He added that the government had asked the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Disease Hospital in Jakarta and the Laboratory of the Faculty of Health, University of Indonesia (FKUI) to investigate the causes of acute hepatitis with severe symptoms.

"Why are so many children affected in many countries. So that we can know this situation and its causes," he said.

Separately, Former Chairperson of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) Aman Bhakti Pulungan said Adenovirus 41 is a type of virus that is often found on a daily basis, usually causing symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and respiratory symptoms. It usually does not cause hepatitis in healthy children.

"This is different from the Adenovirus strain used in AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, which uses the ChAdOx1 strain (a modification of the adenovirus that infects chimpanzees)," he said, as quoted by Antara.

He said Adenovirus 41 was mostly experienced by children aged less than 5 years, especially those who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"There has been an increase in the number of adenovirus infections in children in the UK since November 2021 compared to 5 years ago," he said.