William J Brown - News Room Administrators Staff

W.J. Brown - All Headline News

Jakarta, Indonesia (AHN) Health officials in Indonesia Wednesday have confirmed a second case of polio.

The new case of the deadly and crippling disease was discovered in the same village in West Java as the case of 18-month old todler whose infection was announced on Tuesday.

Authorities in the aread who were investigating the outbreak of the disease for the first time in a decade said they were confident of preventing a major epidemic.

Authorities claim the Indonesian virus is similar genetically to a Nigerian strain.

The Nigerian virus spread rapidly after Muslims boycotted vaccinations in 2003 amid rumors of a US plot to render them infertile or infect them with AIDS.

Polio is a waterborne disease that usually infects young children, attacking the nervous system and causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death. There is no cure.

According to WHO statistics polio vaccination rates in Indonesia overall are about 90 per cent. In Western Java, where the case occurred, only 55 per cent of the children are protected by vaccination.