Polio Case Appears In West Java Purwakarta, 20 Patients Close Contacts Are Examined

Polio Vaccine (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Health conducted a search of 20 people who had close contact with a confirmed child patient polio in Purwakarta, West Java. "This pole is contagious through death or water. Suspects are still investigating," said Head of the Public Communication and Service Bureau of the Indonesian Ministry of Health Siti Nadia Tarmizi after attending the agenda of the COVID-19 Pandemic Handling Award at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Central Jakarta, quoted by ANTARA Monday, March 20. He said, Indonesia had entered an eradication stage of polio, where the number of cases had to be suppressed to zero in all regions. However, due to the pandemic, the focus of polio vaccination on children experienced delays, so that a number of cases appeared in several regions. According to Nadia, the confirmed type 2 polio case in Indonesia this year was reported from Purwakarta. A total of 20 people who had close contact, were undergoing an epidemiological investigation process. "Since 2021, the child is no longer running. It is known that because his child has a fever, was taken to the hospital, the health center of health center sees the cause he cannot walk it is polio," he said. According to Nadia, the patient is known that there is no history of obtaining polio vaccine. The case was identified after the family brought the patient to the health care facility on February 16, 2023 for swab examination on 47. "The result was taken to be positive and checked for positive results. So there was a polio virus that circulated in 2021-2023," he said. In addition to Purwakarta, Nadia said, the Ministry of Health is also waiting for the results of verification of the report of a child with the status of a polio suspect in Jakarta. "If polio is in Jakarta, it is still verification. It is possible that the laboratory results do not yet exist," he said.

The examination was carried out through the Targeted Healthy Stools Sampling method in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Previously, three polio confirmed cases were also detected in Pidie Regency, Aceh, in early November 2022.