IDAI Records 131 Cases Of Mysterious Acute Kidney Disorders In Children In 14 Provinces Of Indonesia

Photo by Charlein Gracia on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) recorded 131 cases of mysterious acute kidney disorders of unknown origin or Atypical Progressive Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in the January to October period from 14 provinces in Indonesia.

"As of October 10, which came to us, of course, this may not be representative of the whole of Indonesia, but the data that we reported to IDAI and we managed to collect from the IDAI branch there were a cumulative 131 cases," said IDAI Central Executive Chairman Piprim Basarah Yanuarso at a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Antara, Tuesday, October 11th.

The fourteen provinces that have reported cases of mysterious acute kidney disease include DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Banten, Bali, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Aceh, West Sumatra, Jambi, Riau Islands, West Papua, and Nusa Southeastern East (NTT).

Secretary of IDAI's Nephrology Coordination Work Unit (UKK), Eka Laksmi Hidayati, said the cases of acute kidney injury (AKI) were initially reported to appear only one or two per month from January to July. However, cases spiked from August to September.

"In August we recorded 35 cases. Then in September, it increased to 71 (cases). In October, until the 11th there were nine cases," she said.

IDAI declares acute kidney disorder as a disease of unknown origin because in fact the condition of acute kidney disorder generally has a number of causes.

"In these children (who had mysterious acute kidney disease), we did not find the cause that usually occurs in children with AKI," she said.

Piprim said IDAI initially suspected the case was related to the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) due to COVID-19. However, based on discussion and analysis, the cases found were also children who were not positive for COVID-19 before.

Eka added, based on the data collected by IDAI, so far her party has not found that this mysterious acute kidney disorder is related to certain drugs as happened in Gambia, West Africa.

"It has been checked regarding the circulation of drugs. And the drugs produced in India are not circulating in Indonesia. There is also no raw material for Indonesian drugs that comes from India. But this may be in more detail later by the Ministry of Health because they are investigating," she said.

IDAI estimates that the death rate for mysterious acute kidney disorders is quite high. However, Eka emphasized that her party could not confirm the percentage considering that IDAI is a professional organization and not an official institution to collect data in all provinces.

“We are trying to collect data (from IDAI branches), but actually the data is only voluntary. We cannot force everyone who has a patient (acute kidney disorder) to enter this data," said Eka.

She hopes that the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) or at least the Health Office in each province can provide more accurate data so that IDAI knows how big the problem is.

On the other hand, Eka said so far the Ministry of Health and the DKI Jakarta Provincial Health Service have also helped a lot for various examinations of the causes of mysterious acute kidney disorders.

Meanwhile, Piprim emphasized that this mysterious acute kidney disorder is a problem that needs to be further investigated. He also appealed to the public not to panic excessively and to remain vigilant if children show symptoms.