WHO counts down Africa polio clock despite fears of new outbreak

Africa’s last case of wild polio was recorded in Nigeria in August 2016. The country can now begin the months of paperwork needed before declaring that the virus is no longer circulating there, WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti told Reuters. “We are hopeful that the way things are going, sometime early next year it might be possible,” Moeti said.

There is no cure for polio, which attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. Children under five are the most vulnerable, but there is a vaccine which prevents the disease. However, traces of the vaccine used against “wild” polio are excreted by people who have been vaccinated, and in places with poor vaccine coverage and poor sanitation, that can cause outbreaks of “vaccine-derived” polio.….more