Polio makes resurgence in Indonesia<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia has detected its first cases of polio in more than 10
\nyears and health officials are urging the government to launch an
\naggressive vaccination campaign to keep the disease from
\nspreading.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health's polio surveillance team reported that
\ntwo 20-month-old toddlers in Sukabumi, West Java, had polio. The
\nteam had received six reports of acute flaccid paralysis in
\nchildren in the area and followed up the reports by taking
\nspecimens and running laboratory tests.<\/p>\n
"The virus found in the area is not indigenous, it is
\nimported," World Health Organization medical officer Bardan Jung
\nRana, who investigated the case, told The Jakarta Post on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
"It means that the infected children had contact with people
\nwho acted as carriers after the virus had entered the country and
\nbecame widespread," he said.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the findings were confirmed, the ministry
\nconducted a door-to-door vaccination campaign for children under
\nthe age of five in the area, as well as in four surrounding
\nvillages.<\/p>\n
"We will proceed with immunization programs for children under
\nthe age of five in West Java, Banten and Jakarta," Minister of
\nHealth Siti Fadilah Supari said in a press release. The program
\nis expected to last until June and cover some five million
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the latest former polio-free country to see a
\nreemergence of the disease. In 2004, the WHO recorded 119 cases
\nof paralytic polio in 15 former polio-free countries.<\/p>\n
The health organization said on its website that the virus had
\nspread from northern Nigeria, a country that was not declared
\npolio-free.<\/p>\n
According to a foreign newswire, the polio strain then spread
\nto Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, but vaccination campaigns averted
\nmajor outbreaks in those countries.<\/p>\n
The virus also spread to other African and Middle Eastern
\ncountries -- Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Botswana, Burkina Faso,
\nCentral African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Togo and Yemen.<\/p>\n
Indonesia was declared polio-free in 1995 although it
\ncontinued to carry out vaccination programs for children until
\n2002. The Ministry of Health also set up a polio surveillance
\nteam to monitor cases of acute flaccid paralysis in children
\nunder the age of 15, which are frequently caused by polio.<\/p>\n
Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is a highly infectious
\nviral disease that invades the nervous system and can cause total
\nparalysis and death.<\/p>\n
The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in
\nthe intestines. After initial infection, the virus is shed
\nintermittently in feces for several weeks. During that period,
\nthe virus can spread rapidly through a community.<\/p>\n
According to the WHO, one in 200 infections leads to
\nirreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. As of April 2005,
\nthe organization reported 1,267 global cases of polio, 792 of
\nthose in Nigeria. The virus can strike at any age, but statistics
\nshows that 50 percent of infected individuals are children under
\nthe age of three.<\/p>\n
Transmission of the virus by immune and partially immune
\nadults and children is possible, and is more likely to occur in
\ncountries where sanitation systems are substandard.<\/p>\n
"The world will hardly ever be free from polio," Bardan said.
\n"That's what makes immunization important." (003)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/polio-makes-resurgence-in-indonesia-1447893297",
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