PHA-Exchange> Polio epidemic warning for Africa

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Polio epidemic warning for Africa
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The polio immunisation campaign was abandoned

West and Central Africa is on the brink of the largest polio
epidemic in recent years, experts have warned.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative says thousands of chil-
dren are at risk of paralysis.

Five times as many children in the region have been hit by polio
in 2004 as last year.

The upsurge has been linked to a suspension of the vaccination
programme in northern Nigeria.

There is no question that the virus is spreading at an alarming
pace.

Last month a child was paralysed by polio in Darfur - the first
case in Sudan for three years.

This means that ten countries have now been reinfected with the
virus since the Nigerian state of Kano stopped immunisations for
eight months last year after Islamic elders voiced concerns
about vaccine safety.

They suspected vaccines had been adulterated as part of a west-
ern plot to depopulate the region.

It is hoped to resume a vaccination programme in the state using
new supplies imported from Indonesia.

But since immunisations stopped 237 cases have been reported
across West and central Africa, including 197 in Nigeria, com-
pared to a total of 49 cases for the same period last year.

High season

Mass immunisation campaigns, which will start in October, should
reach 74m children in 22 countries.

But experts are worried, that with the high season for polio ap-
proaching, cases will begin to rise.

David Heymann, an expert in communicable diseases at the World
Health Organization said: "There is no question that the virus
is spreading at an alarming pace."

Polio, which mainly affects children under five, is caused by a
virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total pa-
ralysis or death.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is hoping to rid the
world of the disease by next year.

Only six countries worldwide - Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger,
Nigeria, and Pakistan - are considered polio-endemic.

When the eradication drive was launched in 1988, polio was a se-
rious problem in 125 countries. 


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