TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Health and the Jakarta Health Agency will be conducting a contact investigation in relation to the acute hepatitis case in children. The investigation will be conducted to discover the risk factor in the three cases.

"Based on the result of contact investigation on the recent fatal cases, the three patients came to health facility on advanced stage of the disease, therefore giving only little time for medical officers to carry out rescue actions," said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi on Thursday, May 5, 2022.

According to Nadia, in the three cases, one of the patients was a 2 years-old child who had not yet received the hepatitis vaccine, another was an 8 years-old child who has been vaccinated, and an 11 years-old child who has been vaccinated. The three patients were tested negative for Covid-19. In addition, one of the patients had suffered from a different disease.

"Until now we cannot categorize the three cases as acute hepatitis with severe symptoms, but it is currently under a pending for classification criteria because there are laboratory examinations that must be carried out," Nadia said.

Nadia said that the laboratory examination must be conducted to examine the adenovirus and to check for Hepatitis E which needs 10 to 14 days. In addition, Nadia said, there was no history of hepatitis from family members of the three children.

M ROSSENO AJI