Indonesia's Polio Cases Continue

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that the Republic of Indonesia's polio outbreak risk was assessed as high at the national level.

As of April 17, 2023, the WHO says the current polio outbreak in Indonesia poses a moderate regional risk and a low risk globally.

These assessments are related to the Indonesia Ministry of Health notifying the WHO of the detections of a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) and acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) from the Purwakarta district in West Java province. 

A total of four confirmed cases of VDPV2 have been reported in Indonesia since November 2022.

This includes three cases of cVDPV2 with AFP in Aceh province and one in West Java province.

Additionally, four healthy children in Aceh province were confirmed to have cVDPV2 on November 25, 2022. 

Despite Indonesia having a strong capacity to respond to poliovirus outbreaks, there is a high susceptibility of the population to poliovirus type 2 after switching from trivalent to bivalent OPV.

WHO's International Travel and Health recommends that all travelers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio.

And the WHO does not recommend any travel and/or trade restrictions to Indonesia based on the current information available for this event.

Indonesia has been included in recent U.S. CDC travel alerts for measles and polio.

In the U.S., polio vaccines are offered at health clinics and pharmacies in Texas.