Ten More Cases of Polio in Indonesia, Who Reports

GENEVA (Reuters) - Ten more children have contracted polio in Indonesia, bringing the number affected by an outbreak of the paralysing disease to 65, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

A fresh round of immunisation is being carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, targeting 6.4 million children in West Java, Banten and Jakarta provinces, the WHO said in a statement.

"Ten new polio cases were confirmed in Indonesia... The cases are from Western Java and Banten provinces," it said.

"Circulation of wild poliovirus could be occurring in other provinces in Indonesia; however, this is unknown at the moment."

The disease, which can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours, re-emerged last month in Indonesia, which had been polio-free since 1995. The first case was near the West Java city of Sukabumi, 100 km (62 miles) south of Jakarta.

One case was reported last week from Demak district in Central Java, a hitherto unaffected province, which lies outside the area where a first round of immunisation was held a month ago, according to the United Nations health agency.

Genetic analysis of the virus in Indonesia showed its origin was in west Africa. It is similar to that found in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and probably travelled through Sudan, the WHO said.

Indonesian health officials have said the virus may have been carried by a migrant worker or a Haj pilgrim who visited Saudi Arabia before returning to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.