New suspected polio case found outside West Java

New suspected polio case found outside West Java

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bandung/Surakarta

As fears of polio infections grow in the country, another
possible case was found in South Kalimantan on Tuesday, bringing
the total suspected cases to 15, with four confirmed sufferers.

A local health agency in the South Kalimantan regency
of Batola reported it had found a new case of acute flaccid
paralysis, a possible symptom of polio. The sufferer was from
Berangas village, Batola, 45 kilometers away from the South
Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin, Antara reported.

Like the previous cases found in Sukabumi, West Java, the
latest finding showed symptoms of decreasing motor ability that
usually follow polio infections in children. There were no other
details.

Fears of an outbreak have led many worried parents to contact
authorities to check if their children were suffering from
paralysis. The parents of three-year-old girl, Lina Eka Setia, of
Celep village in Sragen, 90 kilometers east of Yogyakarta, say
she has suffered from paralysis in both her legs for the past 18
months after a fever, although they admitted she had earlier been
vaccinated against polio.

The girl's mother, Astuti, said her daughter had received full
immunization treatment, including a polio vaccination. She added
that before her legs were paralyzed, Lina had suffered from a
prolonged high fever. "After taking her to the hospital, her
right leg got smaller and her foot bent," Astuti said.

The local health agency was still investigating the cause of
her paralysis.

"The doctor from the local health community center reported
that she was born with paralyzed legs, and it was not caused by
polio," Sragen health agency head Joko Irnugroho told The Jakarta
Post.

Joko said that polio immunization coverage in his area reached
an estimated 96 percent of the total infant population.

In Bandung, a Hasan Sadikin Hospital spokesperson said that
three children who were brought from Sukabumi to the hospital on
Monday were likely to be polio-free. The children were taken to
the hospital by the Legal Aid Agency for Health.

"Previous laboratory results of their feces specimens are
negative, but we are rechecking them," polio treatment team
member Suganda told the Post.

Siti Fitria, 7, Ismail, 3, and eight-month-old Muhammad Luthfi
were being treated by a team of neuropad specialists to get the
necessary physiotherapy, he said.

West Java Governor Danny Setiawan regretted the use of force
in the transfer of the children to Bandung, expressing fear that
such an action would spread the virus.

"Sukabumi health officers, with support from Hasan Sadikin
Hospital and the World Health Organization, have done their best
by conducting daily monitoring," he said. "There was no need to
take (the children) to Bandung."

The Legal Aid Agency for Health had ignored Sukabumi health
officers' warnings not to send the children to Bandung. Minister
of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said on Monday that all people
suspected of having polio should not be moved to other cities to
prevent any possible spread of the virus.

Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio, is a highly infectious
water-borne viral disease that invades the nervous system and can
cause total paralysis and sometimes death in non-vaccinated
people.

The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in
the intestines. After an initial infection, the virus is shed
intermittently in feces for several weeks. During that period,
the virus can spread rapidly through a community.

Transmission of the virus by immune and partially immune
adults and children is possible, and is more likely to occur in
countries like Indonesia, where sanitation systems are often
substandard.

As of April 2005, the organization reported 1,267 global cases
of polio, 792 of those in Nigeria. Until the recent cases,
Indonesia had been free of polio for 10 years.