Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE5970BG20091008
Sudan to vaccinate 8.5 mln after polio outbreak
Thu Oct 8, 2009 11:11am GMT
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan will begin to vaccinate 8.5 million children against polio this month after 45 cases of the disease were reported, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
In 2004-2006 an outbreak of polio spread from north Sudan causing 1,200 cases worldwide, sparking a $150 million emergency response.
Sudan was polio free until 2004 and is considered a high risk for spreading the virus internationally as it borders nine countries, according to the WHO.
"(We have) 40 cases in south Sudan and five reported in February and March in south Sudan," acting WHO representative Salah Haithami told Reuters.
He said the outbreak was under control and that U.N. agencies and the government would begin to vaccinations on October 27.
Polio is a virus that attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in one in 200 cases, of which 5-10 percent die as breathing muscles fail. It affects mainly children under the age of 5.
International efforts to combat polio has cut cases by 99 percent in 10 years -- a drop of more than 350,000 cases in 1998 to about 1,600 in 2008.
Mass immunisation campaigns in the 20th century almost completely eradicated the virus.
Sudan to vaccinate 8.5 mln after polio outbreak
Thu Oct 8, 2009 11:11am GMT
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan will begin to vaccinate 8.5 million children against polio this month after 45 cases of the disease were reported, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
In 2004-2006 an outbreak of polio spread from north Sudan causing 1,200 cases worldwide, sparking a $150 million emergency response.
Sudan was polio free until 2004 and is considered a high risk for spreading the virus internationally as it borders nine countries, according to the WHO.
"(We have) 40 cases in south Sudan and five reported in February and March in south Sudan," acting WHO representative Salah Haithami told Reuters.
He said the outbreak was under control and that U.N. agencies and the government would begin to vaccinations on October 27.
Polio is a virus that attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in one in 200 cases, of which 5-10 percent die as breathing muscles fail. It affects mainly children under the age of 5.
International efforts to combat polio has cut cases by 99 percent in 10 years -- a drop of more than 350,000 cases in 1998 to about 1,600 in 2008.
Mass immunisation campaigns in the 20th century almost completely eradicated the virus.