Government starts second round of polio vaccinations

Government starts second round of polio vaccinations

Agencies, Jakarta

Jakarta, West Java and Banten began the second round of a polio
vaccination campaign on Tuesday as the confirmed number of cases
in the country's first brush with the disease in 10 years rose to
65.

Last month, about 6.5 million children were vaccinated in the
three provinces to counter further outbreaks.

On Tuesday, women and children flocked to medical centers in
the three provinces for a second dose of the vaccine, a couple of
drops of which are squeezed into the mouth of each toddler.

The second round of vaccinations began with a group of young
children in East Jakarta and was inaugurated by Minister of
Health Siti Fadilah Supari and the first lady, Ani Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

"The immunization campaign today (Tuesday) is hoped to reach
between 6.4 and 6.5 million infants under the age of five in the
three provinces of Jakarta, Banten and West Java," said health
ministry spokesman Supriyadi.

Immunization posts set up across the three provinces will
provide free immunization for eight hours from the early morning,
he said.

Residents gave a positive response to the second round of
vaccinations, despite reports that several children died after
being immunized late in May.

Officials discovered in April several new cases of polio in
Sukabumi regency, West Java, almost nine years after the country
had been declared free of the disease.

Polio is believed to have returned to the country via Saudi
Arabia, either through migrant workers or haj pilgrims returning
from Mecca.

There is no known cure for the waterborne virus that usually
affects infants and young children and causes paralysis, withered
muscles and sometimes death.

Polio is spread when unvaccinated people come into contact
with the feces of those with the virus, often through water. It
usually attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis, muscular
atrophy, deformation and sometimes death, though only about one
in 200 of those infected ever develop symptoms.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday that
10 more children had contracted polio in Indonesia, bringing the
number affected by the outbreak to 65.

"Ten new polio cases were confirmed in Indonesia .... The
cases are from Western Java and Banten provinces.

"Circulation of the wild polio virus could be occurring in
other provinces in Indonesia; however, this is unknown at the
moment," the health organization said.

One case was reported last week in Demak district in Central
Java, a hitherto unaffected province, which lies outside the area
where a first round of immunizations was held a month ago,
according to the United Nations health agency.

Genetic analysis of the virus here showed its origin was in
west Africa. It is similar to that found in Saudi Arabia and
Yemen, and probably traveled through Sudan, the WHO said.

The Indonesian polio cases have been a setback for a United
Nations program to eliminate the disease worldwide by the end of
2005.