Two of the cases were discovered in Central Java and East Java in December 2023, while the third case was detected in East Java on January 4, 2024.
"In December 2023, two cases of acute paralysis caused by the poliovirus were discovered with different case chronologies," director general of disease prevention and control at the ministry, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, informed in a written statement released here on Friday.
He said that one of the two patients had not completed polio immunization, while the other had completed immunization but was found to be malnourished.
Rondonuwu informed that the first AFP case was identified in a six-year-old girl in Central Java, identified with her initials as NH. According to her parents, NH, who became paralyzed on November 20, 2023, had only received the oral polio vaccine twice.
The second case, he said, was detected in a boy aged 1 year and 11 months in East Java. The boy, MAF, became paralyzed on November 22, 2023. He had completed polio immunization, but the result of a test showed that he was malnourished.
The third case was found in a boy, MAM, aged 3 years and 1 month in East Java. He became paralyzed on December 6, 2023. MAM had received the oral polio vaccine four times and the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) once, according to his parents.
The boy was confirmed positive for poliovirus type 2 on January 4, 2024, based on a laboratory test and sequencing.
Rondonuwu explained that polio can be prevented through immunization. Water contaminated with feces containing poliovirus can spread the virus.
"Several risk factors for transmission of the poliovirus are low coverage of polio immunization, (poor) environmental cleanliness conditions, and poor hygiene behavior such as open defecation," he said.
Therefore, the Ministry of Health has appealed to the community to play an active role in handling and stopping the transmission of the poliovirus, including by completing polio immunization for children.
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Translator: Sean Muhamad, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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