Polio case detected in Bossembele

A case of "wild" polio has been detected in the Central African Republic (CAR) town of Bossembele, 157 km north of the capital, Bangui, three years after the last reported case in the country, the head of the Pasteur Institute's polio laboratory, Didier Menard, told IRIN on Monday. "The laboratory confirmed on Friday that it was a case of wild polio," Menard said. He added that three tests had been carried out on the patient, a girl aged one year and seven months, to confirm the disease. He said the girl had a doubtful immunisation background and was first suspected on 16 December 2003 of having polio. Menard said that the last polio case had been previously detected in the country in June 2000, and that hopes had been high that the CAR would meet the 2005 deadline set by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) for the eradication of polio worldwide. Bossembele was among the towns that repeatedly changed hands during the six-month civil war that ended in March 2003 and pitted rebels loyal to current CAR leader Francois Bozize against government troops. The war disrupted health activities and prevented hundreds of thousands of children from being immunised for more than a year. This led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and now polio in the war-affected areas. "The National Vaccination Service should take immediate action," Menard said. Routine immunisation in war-ravaged areas resumed in October 2003 with the International Committee of Red Cross equipping 10 hospitals with vaccine storage freezers. An anti-polio immunisation drive took place nationwide in November and December 2003. During the opening ceremony of the anti-polio drive on 3 November 2003, Dr. Mohamed Noor Inusse, who was then the WHO officer in charge, said that Nigeria, the worst affected nation in the world, remained a threat to the central African region as cross-border movements were difficult to monitor.