JAKARTA: Indonesia’s health minister said Friday (October 21) that the number of children who died from acute kidney failure (ARI) has risen to 133 from 99 previously reported.
The deaths were part of a total of 241 cases in 22 provinces, Budi Gunadi Sadikin said, adding that most of the patients were children under the age of five.
Budi said Thursday that some medicinal syrups available in Indonesia contain ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, ingredients that have been linked to fatal AKI in children.
Indonesia has temporarily banned the sale and prescription of all syrup-based drugs and formed an expert team consisting of local health and pediatric officials and representatives of the World Health Organization ( WHO) to examine the peak of ARI in children.
The country’s food and drug agency also named five locally made products that contained excessive levels of ethylene glycol and ordered producers to remove them from circulation and destroy any remaining batches.