INDONESIA: INDONESIA PREPARES FOR ANOTHER CAMPAIGN FOR POLIO VACCINATION AS POLIO CASES RISE

Record ID: 347613

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIA PREPARES FOR ANOTHER CAMPAIGN FOR POLIO VACCINATION AS POLIO CASES RISE
  • Date: 8th July 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (JULY 8, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF INDONESIA HEALTH MINISTRY 0.05 2. WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO) OFFICIALS AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE 0.10 3. WIDE OF INDONESIAN HEALTH MINISTER 0.15 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) INDONESIAN HEALTH MINISTER, SITI FADILAH SUPARI SAYING: "As of
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2C9ZMZM2AZFTNUPVHCT5KRDIM
  • Story Text: Indonesia gears up for another polio immunisation
    program as positive cases rise to 122.



    Indonesia's Health Ministry confirmed on Friday
    (July 8) that the number of polio cases has risen once
    again, bringing the total in the two-month outbreak to 122
    positive cases.

    Indonesia has been polio free for more than ten years
    until the crippling disease first re-emerged in the country
    in March this year.

    "As of July 7, 2005 we found 259 suspected cases that
    are not yet confirmed positive and a further 122 children
    confirmed positive," said Health Minister Siti Fadilah
    Supari to reporters at a news conference.

    Most of the new cases were found on the western side of
    Java island, Lampung province on the island of Sumatra and
    near the West Java city of Sukabumi, where the first cases
    emerged in March.

    Indonesia inoculated 6.4 million children between May
    31 and June 2 in a bid to stamp out the disease, which can
    cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours. A second
    round of immunisation was carried out two weeks ago and
    authorities are planning a third round in August.

    "The Government has decided to conduct another National
    Immunisation Program throughout Indonesia in August of this
    year" said Supari.

    The first cases were reported in early May near the
    city of Sukabumi in West Java, 100 km (62 miles) south of
    Jakarta.

    WHO, which wants to halt the spread of polio worldwide
    by the end of 2005, said it had expected only a slight increase in the
    total number of Indonesian cases.

    "Presently that virus started in West Java in March and
    it spread throughout Java and also to Sumatra. We have come
    to work with the Ministry, the partners of polio
    eradication to see how we can support them, so that
    Indonesia can stop the virus from spreading within the
    country and also prevent it from spreading to other
    countries in the region, because other countries just as
    Indonesia have very low protection rates against polio,"
    said DR. David Heymann WHO Senior Advisor for Polio Disease.

    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.

    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.



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