http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20050504112146&irec=10
Indonesia confirms second case of polio, says confident major outbreak will not occur JAKARTA (AP): The Government on Wednesday confirmed a second case of polio in west Java province, but health authorities said they were confident of preventing a major outbreak of the disease. The case occurred in the same village where a 18-month old toddler contracted the disease last month, Dr. Umar Achmadi, head of communicable disease control for the Health Ministry, told The Associated Press. "We did further investigation and we found six other cases of paralysis, we confirmed one more additional case, and five turned out negative," he said. "I got the test results this morning." Achmadi said he was "99.9 percent" sure that the second case - a 20-month old girl - came from the same source as the first, but that further tests were needed to confirm that. The cases are the first in Indonesia in a decade. Authorities say the strain is genetically similar to one in Nigeria, where the disease spread rapidly after Muslims boycotted the vaccine in 2003 amid rumors of a U.S.-led plot to render them infertile or infect them with AIDS. >From Africa, it spread to parts of the Middle East. An Indonesian migrant >worker may have contracted the disease there before returning home, experts >say. Achamdi said health authorities had conducted house-to-house vaccinations in the area, intensified surveillance and drawn up plans to vaccinate 5.2 million children under age 5 by July - the standard strategy for heading off outbreaks. Achmadi said he was "very confident there will be no problem" in preventing a major outbreak of the disease. World Health Organization officials have said the government was doing everything necessary to contain the disease. Polio vaccination rates in Indonesia overall are about 90 percent. However, Western Java, where the case occurred, is one of the low pockets, where only 55 percent of the children are protected by the vaccine, according to WHO figures. Indonesia is the 16th country re-infected with polio since 2003, when Muslims in northern Nigeria began refusing to immunize their children at the urging of hard-line Islamic clerics. Almost all the cases have been traced to Nigeria, where the boycott continued for nearly a year before local officials stepped in. In Sudan, which was declared polio-free in 2001, the paralyzing illness has infected 149 people. It also has spread to Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, but vaccination campaigns averted major outbreaks. Polio is a waterborne disease that usually infects young children, attacking the nervous system and causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death. (*) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/lGEjbB/6WnJAA/E2hLAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.org *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru; 4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
