TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry reported the deaths of five out of 15 people suspected to have been infected with acute hepatitis of unknown causes. The ministry official says that most of the patients were still suspects.

"Only four can be classified as pending, the others are still suspects because there are no lab results yet," the ministry's spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi told Tempo on Tuesday, 10 May 2022.

Regarding the tests of Hepatitis A to E viruses in the 15 cases, Nadia said that the ministry did not have the results yet, and they were still waiting.

"We are still conducting genome sequences, but the PCR tests for Covid conducted on nine patients came out negative," she said.

Nadia also stated that the Health Ministry had conducted five Epidemiological Investigations (PE). But so far they have not found a pattern of how the disease spread.

"So far, the PE results have not shown a pattern of transmission," he said.

She stated that the Health Ministry had made a number of efforts urging the public to carry out early detection, implement health protocols, ensure personal health and sanitation, wash their hands, and not share eating utensils, and immediately seek medical help when there is a symptom.

"[When there are] symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea, don't wait for it to progress," he said.

Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin had stated that the first three cases of acute hepatitis in Indonesia were reported on 27 April 2022, days after the WHO announced an outbreak in Europe.

On that day, he said, the ministry immediately issued a circular for all hospitals and health offices to carry out surveillance and monitoring of these cases.

Budi Sadikin said his ministry also communicated with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the British Government to obtain information and quickly detect the cause of the disease.

The disease is said to affect children more, as the immune system of kids under the age of 6 has not fully developed yet.

Read: Jakarta Health Agency Talks of Mysterious Acute Hepatitis

Mutia Yuantisya