Polio cases in RI down 97 percent

Polio cases in RI down 97 percent

JAKARTA: Polio in Indonesia over the past five years has successfully been decreased by 97 percent from 773 cases in 1998 to 23 reported cases in 1999, said the head of the Central Java health office, Krishnajaya.

"In Central Java, for example, polio was last found in Cilacap regency in 1995," Krishnajaya said in Semarang on Thursday.

She said, polio (Poliomylelitus acuta) which affects children below the age of 15, was caused by the polio virus, which causes fever, weakness and sometimes permanent paralysis.

The virus, which spreads via human feces, stays only a short time in the human intestines, so there are no chronic sufferers or polio carriers, she said.

According to Krishnajaya, the fight against polio has been carried out through routine immunization, Surveillance of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (S-AFP) and increased levels of hygiene and sanitation.

Krishnajaya said that if acute polio cases could be eliminated and suppression of the wild polio virus achieved and maintained for three consecutive years, Indonesia would receive certification for being polio free from the World Health Organization (WHO).

"If those conditions are met and maintained throughout the whole country, then polio immunization will no longer be needed," she said.--Antara