JAKARTA, 22 July 2005 - Indonesia’s polio toll has climbed to 155, the UN health agency said today, with dozens of new cases reported in the last two weeks. Dr Bardan Jung Rana, a WHO medical officer in Indonesia, said the 33 new cases were all reported in areas already infected with the crippling disease and that the rise has been gradual.

“This is pretty much what we have been expecting,” he said. The polio outbreak – Indonesia’s first in 10 years – has prompted authorities to vaccinate up to 6.5 million children. Another 24 million will be targeted in a nationwide campaign that begins August 30. Polio is spread when unvaccinated people come into contact with the faeces of those with the virus, often through water.

It usually attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death, although only about one in 200 of those infected ever develop symptoms.

  09 January 2009 · Batik design to become world heritage this year
  08 January 2009 · Papua earthquakes drive thousands into tent camps
  08 January 2009 · Central bank cuts rate by 50 basis point to 8.75%
  07 January 2009 · FPI holds warfare training and recruitment session for Gaza
  06 January 2009 · No embassy in Bandung, demonstration at German cultural institute
  06 January 2009 · One liter of petrol for 50.000 Rupiah in West Timor
  05 January 2009 · Two more aftershocks hit Manokwari
  04 January 2009 · Manokwari airport closed after quakes
  04 January 2009 · 7.8 magnitude quake hits near Manokwari, 25 aftershocks reported
  03 January 2009 · Indonesia to launch stimulus to boost economy