Mystery disease claims 3 kids

Jakarta – Three children in Indonesia have died from a mysterious liver disease, the country’s health ministry said, raising to at least four the global death toll of a fatal ailment puzzling doctors from the US to Asia.

This severe strain of acute hepatitis has been identified in nearly 170 children across 11 countries in recent weeks – raising concerns from the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the disease’s “unknown origin”.

The symptoms afflicting the children include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain – before their livers showed signs of inflammation. At least one death was previously reported.

The children were aged two, eight, and 11, the health ministry said. –