World
September 04, 2005
Malaysia finds no polio case: official
Malaysia has found no polio cases and the disease has been eradicated from the country, Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said on Saturday.
This should be attributed to Malaysia's nationwide compulsory immunization against the disease, the minister said when he visited a hospital in Jerantut, a small town in Malaysia's Pahang state.
More than 95 percent of Malaysians have received immunization, except those people living in remote areas, and that prevented any outbreak of polio, he said.
Local media said that the World Health Organization (WHO) had reported a reoccurrence of polio in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia. Chua said that the Malaysian government would intensify checks in border areas, especially those areas bordering Indonesia.
Medical examinations on Indonesians entering Malaysia were crucial to prevent the disease from spreading into the country, hesaid. Malaysians who traveled to Indonesia frequently were also encouraged to undergo medical examinations.
Malaysian health officials said in May this year that there hadbeen no polio reports in the country since the year 2000 and that Malaysia had nothing to worry about the discovery of two polio cases in West Java of Indonesia.
The United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF) said that the last polio case in Malaysia was reported in 1992.
Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved