The largest epidemic of polio in recent years has broken out in Nigeria and is spreading across central and western Africa, threatening 74 million children with the paralyzing disease and jeopardizing hopes of eradicating it from the world by the end of the year.
In the state of Kano in Nigeria, which is at the center of the outbreak, doubt over vaccine safety has led to the suspension of immunization, and 257 children have now been paralyzed by the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Polio is now being exported to neighboring countries, including Sudan, where a child in Darfur has been infected by the Nigerian strain of the virus.
PHOTO: EPA
There are now 22 countries affected, 10 of which were free of polio last year.
"It has spread as far south as the Central African Republic, so it is on the border with the Congo, which has been one of the great successes of the polio eradication program," said Bruce Aylward, the global coordinator of the WHO-led program.
"We're seeing five times the number of cases in west and central Africa that we did last year -- 301 as opposed to 58. We could see thousands of children paralyzed across west and central Africa at a time when the virus should be eradicated. The countries it is spreading into have very weak immunization programs, reaching only 50 percent," he said.
UNICEF deputy director Kul Gautam said the Darfur case was "the latest tragedy to hit children in a region beset with multiple tragedies. It is unthinkable that mothers have fled to avoid atrocities only to find their children at danger from a virus that Sudan had eradicated.
"Too many children across the region are defenseless against the disease. We are on the verge of a totally unnecessary public health tragedy. This has all the potential to become a humanitarian crisis," Gautam said.
The program plans a huge synchronized immunization drive across 22 African countries in October and November. But it will need a lot more money.
"This is going to require an additional US$100 million over the next two years, and US$25 million by August," Aylward said.
Since 1988, more than US$3 billion has been raised and spent on attempts to rid the world of polio.
Britain announced yesterday that it would make immediately available this year's ?14 million (US$25.7 million) contribution to eradicating polio.
"I urge all donors to turn their pledges into cash and call on the international community to commit the political and financial resources necessary to eradicate polio once and for all," said Gareth Thomas, Britain's minister for international development.
In Kano, polio immunization was suspended last year after religious leaders claimed that the vaccine would make women sterile and rumors spread that it was a Western plot to reduce the number of Muslims.
State leaders said they would undertake their own investigation into the safety of the vaccine. They reported in January, saying they had found traces of the female hormone estrogen, which could affect fertility. Tests elsewhere have not replicated the findings.
In February, the federal government sent politicians, scientists and religious leaders abroad to investigate how the vaccine was produced and tested.
Last month, there appeared to be a breakthrough when officials announced that they had received a safe vaccine from Indonesia, a Muslim country. Immunization has not resumed, however.
David Heymann, WHO representative on the eradication program, said the epidemic in Kano meant that most people now wanted their children immunized.
"Most, if not all, of the concerns that have been raised in terms of immunization and safety with the vaccine have been resolved," he said.
It was not possible to stop travel between Nigeria and its neighbors, WHO experts said. Those infected are in rural areas, and many travel regularly across borders. The three most heavily reinfected countries are Chad, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.
"Telling people not to travel to these areas would not be effective," Heymann said.
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