WHO announces new polio cases in RI
WHO announces new polio cases in RI
Indonesia has reported eight new cases of polio, all found in
districts different from where the crippling disease was first
rediscovered, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on
Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, a WHO report said there were five new
cases, but an official later told Reuters an additional three had
been confirmed.
Sari Setiogi, a WHO spokesman in Indonesia, said the
additional cases brought to 28 the number of confirmed cases in
Indonesia, which has been taking steps to fight its first polio
outbreak in a decade.
She said all of the eight new cases were in the districts of
Lebak and Serang in Banten province. Most of the earlier cases
were around Sukabumi city in neighboring West Java province.
Indonesia has inoculated 6.2 million children since late May
in a bid to stamp out the disease, which can cause irreversible
paralysis in a matter of hours.
WHO, which aims to halt the spread of polio worldwide in 2005,
had said on Monday a slight increase in the Indonesian total had
been expected because authorities had been investigating a number
of suspected cases since the first new one was reported in early
May.
But the agency said it did not anticipate that the number
would rise significantly.
The U.N. agency has battled a series of setbacks to its global
campaign since Nigeria's northern state of Kano banned
immunization out of fear it could cause sterility or spread
HIV/AIDS. Vaccination resumed after a 10-month ban.
Indonesia is one of a number of countries where polio has re-
emerged after being imported from West Africa. Saudi Arabia and
Yemen have also suffered outbreaks.
Indonesia's vaccination campaign covered children across the
provinces of West Java and Banten, as well as Jakarta. Sukabumi
lies about 100 km (60 miles) south of the capital.
The viral disease of the brain and spinal cord mainly affects
children under five. Some cases are fatal.
Indonesian health officials have said the virus 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