Don't move suspected polio sufferers: Minister

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung, Jakarta

All suspected cases of polio will be treated in the areas where they are found to prevent any possible spread of the virus, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari says.

"We do not want the virus to spread due to the reckless handling of patients, so it is essential that no one moves polio patients," Siti said on Monday.

On Monday, the ministry said the number of cases of acute flaccid paralysis -- one of the possible symptoms of polio infection -- had risen to 17, an increase of two since 15 cases were reported last week. "Out of the suspected cases, the number of confirmed positive polio cases (of five) has not increased," she said.

Siti's plea came after a non-governmental organization, the Legal Aid Agency for Health, moved three children with suspected polio symptoms from their villages in Sukabumi to Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java on Monday.

Moving the children had been opposed by local health agencies because they were concerned it would spread the virus. "We tried stopping them, but they insisted, and we could do nothing," Sukabumi health agency head Buhono Thaha Dibrata said.

"We were concerned that the children would not have proper physiotherapy treatment in Sukabumi," Legal Aid Agency for Health representative Iskandar Sitorus told The Jakarta Post on Monday afternoon.

Children and adults can be carriers of the virus that can spread rapidly through non-immunized human populations if it enters water supplies. More than 85 percent of people in the country, however, are estimated to have been vaccinated against the disease.

Indonesia's first confirmed polio case -- after having been free of polio for 10 years -- was found by the polio surveillance team in Girijaya village, Sukabumi, West Java. The virus, identified in a laboratory, in Mumbai, India, is believed to be have been imported into the country since it matched a Saudi Arabian strain.

Ministry director-general of contagious disease control and environmental health Umar Fahmi Achmadi said that the water- bourne virus could live up to 100 days in a humid environment especially during the rainy season.

However, Umar said the ministry would not try to quarantine areas where positive cases had been found. "It is impossible to stop people from coming in and out of Sukabumi," he said. Vaccinations would be sufficient to prevent more people -- especially children -- from getting infected, he said.

Public alarm at the possible spread of a new foreign polio epidemic continued on Monday, with West Java Governor Danny Setiawan suggesting special polio examinations at the Soekarno- Hatta International Airport and Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung for all overseas visitors.

However, National Institute of Sciences molecular virology researcher Andi Utama dismissed speculation on Monday that a foreign virus could not be treated with existing vaccinations. "The same vaccine used years ago can still be used now as the virus has not mutated," Andi said.

Currently, Indonesia's sole vaccine producer Bio Farma Laboratory in Bandung is preparing at least 13 million doses of the vaccine for a planned mass immunization in Banten, Jakarta and West Java.

"We are ready to send the vaccine to the three provinces, but if the ministry requires more it would take us a month to prepare them," marketing director Sarimuddin Sulaeman said.

The laboratory regularly stocks 3 million vials for domestic use and exported some 500 million doses to India, he said. (003)