After attending the COVID-19 Pandemic Handling Awards here on Monday, head of the ministry's communication and public service bureau, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said that the 20 close contacts are currently undergoing an epidemiological investigation.
"Since 2021, the child (polio patient from Purwakarta) has not been able to walk. It was identified after the child had a fever and was then brought to a hospital. Then, the community health center (puskesmas) found the reason the child could not walk was polio," she informed.
According to her, the patient has no history of polio vaccination. The case was detected after the patient's family brought the patient to a health facility on February 16, 2023, for a fecal swab test.
“It was examined, and the result was positive. Thus, there is poliovirus circulating from 2021–2023,” she said.
Tarmizi informed that, apart from the case in Purwakarta, the Health Ministry is currently waiting for the verification of suspected polio infection in a child from Jakarta.
"Polio (case) in Jakarta is still in the verification (process). The laboratory result is possibly not out yet," she said.
A stool examination was carried out using the Targeted Healthy Stools Sampling method, in accordance with the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to Tarmizi, Indonesia has entered the polio eradication stage, where cases of polio need to be suppressed to zero in all regions.
However, due to the slowdown in polio immunization among children on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, several cases of polio have been found earlier in several regions.
Earlier, three cases of polio were detected in Pidie district, Aceh province, in early November 2022.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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