The West Java provincial government is monitoring a potential spread of polio after one case was confirmed in Purwakarta regency.
Based on official statement released on Saturday, health office in the province found a type 2 VDVP polio case among the samples, which was from a four-year-old girl in Tegal Datar village, Purwakarta.
The patient reportedly had come to one of the community health centers (locally known as puskesmas) upon experiencing a cold; she also has a history of developmental disorders and struggles with walking and talking.
Dewi Ambarwati, head of West Java’s health surveillance team, said officials from the Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) had come to Tegal Datar to conduct epidemiological investigation to study a potential polio spread.
Among a number of steps taken, officials took stool samples of 30 healthy children in the area to see whether the virus had circulated and caused asymptomatic infection. In addition, authorities have also referred suspect patients to be treated a Hasan Sadikin hospital and prepared puskesmas and hospitals in the regency on the handling of polio cases.
