JAKARTA, 13 July 2005 - A case of polio has been found in Indonesia, leading to fears that an outbreak that began in Africa has crossed to Southeast Asia. This is the first case of a wild-virus polio infection in the country in a decade. Experts with the World Health Organization confirmed on Tuesday that an 18-month-old todler in West Java, Indonesia had contracted polio. They warned that several suspected cases in the area are likely to be confirmed as polio over the next days.

Polio is a water-borne virus that primarily attacks children. It is deadly to many patients and it leaves others partially or completely paralyzed. The virus found in the Indonesian case matches very closely samples collected during an outbreak in recent months in Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

That strain of virus apparently came originally from Nigeria, where many people boycotted the immunization programs in 2003 and 2004. The boycott was fueled by incorrect rumor that the vaccine caused children to be infertile or that it would spread AIDS. According to the WHO, 16 countries have had wild-virus outbreaks since 2003.

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