Polio toll climbs to 155

Polio toll climbs to 155

JAKARTA: The polio toll has climbed to 155, the UN health agency said here on Friday, with dozens of new cases reported in the last two weeks.

Bardan Jung Rana, a WHO medical officer in Indonesia, said the 33 new cases were all reported in areas already infected with the crippling disease and that the rise has been gradual.

"This is pretty much what we have been expecting," he said.

The polio outbreak -- Indonesia's first in 10 years -- has prompted authorities to vaccinate up to 6.5 million children. Another 24 million will be targeted in a nationwide campaign that begins Aug. 30.

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, although only about one in 200 of those infected ever develop symptoms. -- AP