(Bloomberg) – Three pediatric patients in Indonesia died of acute hepatitis in April, according to the country’s health ministry, which has increased the global death toll from the mysterious liver disease affecting children from the United States to Asia to at least four.
The children hospitalized in the capital, Jakarta, had symptoms including nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, fever, jaundice, seizures and loss of consciousness, the ministry said in a statement Monday. Calls on parents to take children who show these symptoms to the hospital immediately.
The ministry is conducting a full set of tests to determine the cause of the disease and has issued a circular to strengthen national surveillance of the disease, the statement said.
Over the weekend, Singapore confirmed a case of acute hepatitis in a 10-month-old baby and investigated whether there was a similar presentation of other cases reported worldwide.
Read more: What is the mysterious liver disease that affects children?
At least one other child has died of acute hepatitis, and more than a dozen others worldwide have undergone liver transplants since the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Although the cause of the disease has not yet been determined, researchers are studying a family of pathogens called adenoviruses that cause a number of diseases, including the common cold.
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