Second polio case reported in Indonesia

May 4 2005

Another case of polio has been diagnosed in the Javanese village where little 18-month-old Fikri Ramdani lives. Fikri is the first polio case confirmed in Indonesia in the latest re-appearance of the disease which has been virtually wiped out in the majority of developed countries.

Indonesian authorities report that the other child, a 20-month-old girl, lives near the 18-month-old boy in the same village on Java Island, has been diagnosed with polio. They are Indonesia's first confirmed cases of polio since 1995.

The World Health Organization is investigating several other reported cases of paralysis in the region as health officials prepare to vaccinate some five million children, and are confident a major outbreak can be avoided.

Indonesia is the 16th country where polio has reappeared since 2003, and the first outside Africa and the Middle East.

The outbreak has been traced to northern Nigeria, where in 2003 many Muslims boycotted an immunization drive, claiming Western nations were using the vaccine campaign to sterilize Muslim girls or spread AIDS.