Polio cases up to 111 in Indonesia

Jul 6 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this week that another 11 cases of polio have been confirmed in Indonesia bringing the total number of cases in the country to date to 111.

The WHO says that six new cases were discovered in Serang and five in Lebak, both in Banten province, which has been identified as one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak of the crippling disease.

Since the first polio cases were detected in the West Java town of Sukabumi in April, two mass polio vaccination campaigns have been conducted in Banten, Jakarta and West Java.

But in the last few weeks, the polio virus has spread to Central Java, and Lampung on Sumatra island.

A nationwide immunization campaign is scheduled to start in August.

Before the polio cases were discovered in April, Indonesia had been polio-free since 1995.

A nationwide immunization campaign is scheduled to start in August.