Malaysia has reported its first polio case in 27 years in a three-month-old baby diagnosed on Borneo island on December 6.
The Malaysian health ministry's director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the baby from Tuaran in eastern Sabah state had been admitted into intensive care after experiencing fever and muscle weakness.
The patient was said to be undergoing treatment in an isolation ward and in a stable condition but needs respiratory support.
The diagnosis comes after the Philippines, which shares a close sea border with Sabah, was hit in September by its first polio case in nearly two decades.
Test results showed that the Malaysian child was infected with a strain that shared genetic links to the virus detected in the Philippines.
Malaysia was declared polio free in 2000.
Polio immunisation is not mandatory in Malaysia and a small group of people refuse vaccination due to misinformation.
In recent years, Malaysia had recorded a number of deaths among children from diphtheria, another vaccine-preventable disease, because they did not receive immunisation.
Investigations found that 23 children under the age of 15 who lived close to the infected baby had also not received the polio vaccine.
Vaccination activities and monitoring are being carried out to try and contain the spread of the disease.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease which has no cure and can only be prevented with several doses of oral and injectable vaccines. It affects the nervous system and spinal cord and can be fatal in rare cases.
Over the past three decades the world has made great strides in the battle against polio. The World Health Organization said only 33 cases were reported worldwide in 2018.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio has never been eradicated.
Nigeria recorded the last case of polio on August 2014 and is awaiting WHO certification of being polio - free in 2020.
