Don't move suspected polio sufferers: Minister<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung, Jakarta<\/p>\n
All suspected cases of polio will be treated in the areas where
\nthey are found to prevent any possible spread of the virus,
\nMinister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari says.<\/p>\n
\"We do not want the virus to spread due to the reckless
\nhandling of patients, so it is essential that no one moves polio
\npatients,\" Siti said on Monday.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the ministry said the number of cases of acute
\nflaccid paralysis -- one of the possible symptoms of polio
\ninfection -- had risen to 17, an increase of two since 15 cases
\nwere reported last week. \"Out of the suspected cases, the number
\nof confirmed positive polio cases (of five) has not increased,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
Siti's plea came after a non-governmental organization, the
\nLegal Aid Agency for Health, moved three children with suspected
\npolio symptoms from their villages in Sukabumi to Hasan Sadikin
\nHospital in Bandung, West Java on Monday.<\/p>\n
Moving the children had been opposed by local health agencies
\nbecause they were concerned it would spread the virus. \"We tried
\nstopping them, but they insisted, and we could do nothing,\"
\nSukabumi health agency head Buhono Thaha Dibrata said.<\/p>\n
\"We were concerned that the children would not have proper
\nphysiotherapy treatment in Sukabumi,\" Legal Aid Agency for Health
\nrepresentative Iskandar Sitorus told The Jakarta Post on Monday
\nafternoon.<\/p>\n
Children and adults can be carriers of the virus that can
\nspread rapidly through non-immunized human populations if it
\nenters water supplies. More than 85 percent of people in the
\ncountry, however, are estimated to have been vaccinated against
\nthe disease.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's first confirmed polio case -- after having been
\nfree of polio for 10 years -- was found by the polio surveillance
\nteam in Girijaya village, Sukabumi, West Java. The virus,
\nidentified in a laboratory, in Mumbai, India, is believed to be
\nhave been imported into the country since it matched a Saudi
\nArabian strain.<\/p>\n
Ministry director-general of contagious disease control and
\nenvironmental health Umar Fahmi Achmadi said that the water-
\nbourne virus could live up to 100 days in a humid environment
\nespecially during the rainy season.<\/p>\n
However, Umar said the ministry would not try to quarantine
\nareas where positive cases had been found. \"It is impossible to
\nstop people from coming in and out of Sukabumi,\" he said.
\nVaccinations would be sufficient to prevent more people --
\nespecially children -- from getting infected, he said.<\/p>\n
Public alarm at the possible spread of a new foreign polio
\nepidemic continued on Monday, with West Java Governor Danny
\nSetiawan suggesting special polio examinations at the Soekarno-
\nHatta International Airport and Husein Sastranegara Airport in
\nBandung for all overseas visitors.<\/p>\n
However, National Institute of Sciences molecular virology
\nresearcher Andi Utama dismissed speculation on Monday that a
\nforeign virus could not be treated with existing vaccinations.
\n\"The same vaccine used years ago can still be used now as the
\nvirus has not mutated,\" Andi said.<\/p>\n
Currently, Indonesia's sole vaccine producer Bio Farma
\nLaboratory in Bandung is preparing at least 13 million doses of
\nthe vaccine for a planned mass immunization in Banten, Jakarta
\nand West Java.<\/p>\n
\"We are ready to send the vaccine to the three provinces, but
\nif the ministry requires more it would take us a month to prepare
\nthem,\" marketing director Sarimuddin Sulaeman said.<\/p>\n
The laboratory regularly stocks 3 million vials for domestic
\nuse and exported some 500 million doses to India, he said. (003)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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