The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that new cases of polio arose in Middle Africa; the disease infects people in Angola and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The situation caused the WHO to call the attention of member countries as the outbreak pose to be an international threat. The disease may again spread throughout the Central Africa, WHO official says.
Polio is an acute disease caused by a virus known as Poliovirus. The infection generally portrays no indicative signs and symptoms. However, in few cases, the virus may enter the central nervous system and can cause muscle weakness especially in the lower extremities.
There was no known cure for the disease. The only counter measure to fight the spread of the infection is through immunization.
Experts established the polio vaccine on 1950s. The global usage of the vaccine reduced the rate of polio cases to about 99%. In 2009, there were only about 1,500 cases of polio worldwide, an official says.
According to WHO reports, officials cleared the previous polio outbreak in Angola in 2007. However, new cases of the disease arose and cause re-infections to previously cleared areas. Furthermore, there seems to be cases of cross contamination of the disease to the neighbor country of DRC.
Currently, officials tracked the spread of polio that affects the two African nations, WHO says. The situation made concerns to the organization since Africa has shown progress in clearing out the infection.
WHO reports that there were no new cases of the disease in other parts of Africa such as the northern, western, and northeastern area for almost a year. Nigeria shows progress in controlling the spread of the disease, as there was a decline of about 99% in their cases of polio infection.
Oliver Rosenbauer of WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative says that comprehensive vaccination is needed to control the outbreak. The organization planned to launch the immunization program this month.
Post a Comment