Polio Spreading at Alarming Rates, World Health Organization Declares
Source: NY Times
Alarmed by the spread of polio from conflict zones in three continents, the Wolrd Health Organization on Monday declared the spread of the disease an international health emergency. The United Nations health body said it was taking the step in an effort to slow the further spread of the disease, a paralyzing virus once thought to be nearly eradicated.
An emergency committee convened by the organization announced in Geneva that three countries — Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon — had allowed the spread of the virus and should take extraordinary measures to stop it.
The committee announced via a telephone news conference from its Geneva headquarters that all children in these countries should be inoculated or reinoculated and all travelers from these countries should be reinoculated and should carry proof in the form of an internationally recognized document.
The emergency committee said it was alarmed that polio had spread recently from Pakistan to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq, and Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea. It said there was “increasing evidence that adult travelers contributed to this spread.”
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/health/world-health-organization-polio-health-emergency.html
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