Indonesia polio cases hit 8, one treated in Jakarta

Indonesia polio cases hit 8, one treated in Jakarta

Indonesia has detected two new polio cases, bringing the total number of infected patients in the country's first outbreak of the crippling disease in a decade to eight children, a senior health official said in Jakarta on Saturday.

All cases so far come from villages near the West Java city of Sukabumi, but one of them is now being treated in a Jakarta hospital.

Indonesia is the 16th country previously believed to be polio- free to be reinfected in the past two years.

"Our update today is eight positive cases of polio. The additional two cases come from the same cluster in Sukabumi," said Yusharmen, director of epidemiology at Indonesia's health ministry.

Asked about the 20-month old polio patient who is now in Jakarta, Yusharmen said: "She came from Sukabumi and was brought to Jakarta by her family."

Polio mainly hits children under five and can cause irreversible paralysis, deformation and sometimes death.

The outbreak occurred last month in Girijaya village near Sukabumi, about 100 km (62 miles) south of Jakarta. Additional confirmed cases have since emerged in neighboring villages, with several suspected cases still being investigated.

Around 5,000 children in West Java have been vaccinated in recent weeks. Preparations are under way for a major program to vaccinate 5.2 million children at the end of the month across the provinces of West Java, Banten and the city of Jakarta which administratively is a province.

The WHO has said the Indonesian cases are almost identical to a strain circulating in parts of Africa and that the disease may have reached the country from Africa via the Middle East.

Health officials said it may have been carried by a migrant worker or a Haj pilgrim who visited Saudi Arabia before returning to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. --Reuters