DUSHANBE, May 14, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The second round of a national polio immunization campaign was launched in Dushanbe on May 14, Shamsiddin Jobirov, the director of the Republican Immunopropylactic Center, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

“At first we planned to launch the second round of the polio immunization campaign in Dushanbe on May 18 but we then decided to bring forward the second round in the city due to a large gathering of internal migrants here,” Jobirov said.

In the regions, the second round will take place on May 18-22 and will be followed by the third round on June 1-5.

It is to be noted that the first round of the polio immunization campaign started in Dushanbe and seven districts subordinate to the center on May 1.  The campaign targets 296,900 children under the age of six in this area and by May 5, the first round has reportedly successfully covered 92.5 percent of the targeted population in the area.

In other regions of the country, the first round took place on May 4-8.  The first round covered 99.6 percent of the targeted population in the country – more than 1 million children, Jobirov said.

Polio has recently reappeared in Tajikistan after a 13-year absence.  360 people have been hospitalized in Tajikistan on suspicion of having contracted the disease, with fifty-two cases confirmed so far.