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WHO Struggles To Contain Polio Outbreaks
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-05-12
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Yemen and Indonesia are the latest victims of polio outbreaks in the world. Indonesia reported 6 cases with more expected last week in a district of West Java. Yemen wasn't so lucky with 63 reported cases and it continues to spread.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF assist the to countries in huge immunization efforts to help stop this tragic disease which primarily does its damage to children. Indonesian efforts are underway with a campaign to vaccinate 5 million children and Yemen is getting started with an effort to vaccinate 6 million children.
Efforts to prevent an outbreak in Yemen had been underway for a few weeks when the virus started showing up. The virus is generally transferred by dirty water. The problem is that Indonesia and Yemen were both polio free for the last ten years.
Where Did It Come From?
The WHO suspects the Yemen outbreak stemmed from a current crisis in the Sudan and has certainly spread quickly. They are desperate to prevent the spread of the diseases to neighboring Somalia, as the geography would make an immunization campaign logistically very difficult.
The Indonesian problem is probably from an Islamic pilgrim making his trek to Mecca and connecting with someone from Nigeria. Back in 2003, a number of radical clerics suggested that the polio vaccine would spread AIDS/HIV and cause sterility in its recipients. This caused many people to forego the vaccine. Also, the area of West Java has a low polio immunization rate. The nation as a whole has about 90%. The district in West Java was about 55%. All the infections have occurred in West Java.
The WHO started the polio eradication efforts back in 1988 and the numbers, over 350,000, are down significantly since then. Last year, a little over 1200 and the year before that was less than 1000. There are currently 6 countries where polio is considered endemic and 16 countries that've had the tragic disease reintroduced in the last two years. Efforts to beat the paralytic epidemic continue.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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