Indonesia now has 155 cases of polio

Jul 23 2005

According to the United Nations health agency, the number of cases in Indonesia's polio outbreak has now reached 155.

The 33 new cases reported in the past two weeks are all in areas already affected by the disease.

This is the first polio outbreak in 10 years in Indonesia, and many areas are undergoing mass immunization programs.

Health officials have traced the outbreak to Nigeria, where vaccinations were suspended in 2003 after radical clerics said they were part of a U.S. plot.

The first detected case of polio was in West Java province, 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, in April.

Indonesian officials say the virus was possibly picked up by a pilgrim on the hajj to Mecca, or a migrant worker.

Indonesia has vaccinated as many as 6.5 million children since the first case of polio in almost a decade in Indonesia was reported.

Health officials say Indonesia will launch a new round of vaccinations on 30 August, targeting 24 million children nationwide.

The health ministry expects the campaign to cost 230bn rupiah ($21.7m).

Polio is still endemic in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Nigeria, Niger and Pakistan, and the UN has been campaigning to eradicate the disease completely by the end of this year.