Health Ministry: Two new polio cases detected in Sabah
PUCHONG: Health Ministry today confirmed detecting two new polio cases in Sabah.
In a statement today, its director general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a boy aged 11 years in Kinabatangan and another boy aged eight years old in Sandakan have been infected with the virus.
“World Health Organization Polio Regional Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia yesterday confirmed that the stool sample from the two boys, who are not Malaysian, are tested positive with polio virus,” he said.
On Dec 8. the ministry confirmed that a baby boy, aged three months in Tuaran, Sabah has been infected by polio.
Hisham said the three cases have genetic link with the polio virus detected in the Phillippines.
He added all the three boys are still receiving treatment in isolation at the hospital in the state.
“The baby boy in Tuaran and the boy in Sandakan are still using respiratory ventilation, whereas the boy in Kinabatangan can now walk using a cane,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hisham said so far, 705 people staying around the area where the two new polio cases were detected have been tested by his ministry but showed no other cases.
“Around 65 children who have yet to receive polio vaccine have been vaccinated,” he said.
Hisham added that polio monitoring and prevention activities have been stepped up in the state since the first case was detected.
By Irman Hashim
