Reuters Videos
Indonesia investigates 99 child kidney injury deaths
STORY: Acute kidney injury has caused the death of almost 100 children in Indonesia so far this year, a health ministry official said on Wednesday (October 19).A team of experts is investigating the spike in cases, which comes as Gambia’s government probes the death of 70 children from acute kidney injuries, or AKI.The Gambia fatalities were linked to paracetamol syrups used to treat fever, which contained excessive levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.However, officials at Indonesia’s food and drug agency insisted those products were not available locally, adding that the ingredients they were made of had been banned from all child medicinal syrups sold in the country.Although the link to paracetamol syrup has not been proven, parent Widi Damariyanti is concerned. “I also have a small child, a two year-old, and if this is fatal for my child, I’d rather have it stopped. What I know is that now it isn’t just impacting children’s cough syrup, adult cough syrup is also temporarily gone off shelves. It’s feared that this could affect adults, too, as I’m aware, because I also work in a pharmacy.”As of October 18, Indonesian authorities have identified 206 cases of AKI among children, with 99 fatalities, health ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril told a press conference in Jakarta.”As a preventive measure, the ministry has asked all health workers in all health facilities to temporarily stop prescribing or providing any liquid or syrup medication until our research and investigation is completed.”The ministry has purchased specialist medicines for AKI to address the spike, he added.Local health and paediatrics officials and World Health Organization representatives are investigating the rise in fatalities, in consultation with the WHO experts investigating cases in Gambia.
