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