First polio case for four years may be linked to Nigeria

Cote d’Ivoire has recorded its first case of polio for four years and investigations are underway to see whether it is the same strain that has spread from Nigeria to several other West African countries, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday. If the link to Nigeria is confirmed, Cote d'Ivoire would become the eighth previously polio-free country in Africa to become re-infected due to the spread of type 1 polio virus from northern Nigeria, where five states have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in recent months. Cases linked to the polio virus emanating from northern Nigeria have so far been confirmed in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Ghana and Togo. The French news agency AFP quoted UNICEF officials as saying that the Ivorian polio victim was a 20-month-old baby girl from near Duekoue in the west of the country, who fell ill on 17 December. "This is further proof of the unnecessary suffering caused by the ongoing suspension of polio immunization activities in the Nigerian state of Kano," Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement. "Children living in Kano state have been denied the polio vaccine since August 2003, creating an open channel for polio to spread back into the rest of Nigeria and across west and central Africa," she said. Kaduna and Zamfara states suspended polio vaccinations in October last year. Niger state failed to join in a nationwide vaccination campaign that was due to start this week and health workers in Bauchi state said they had been ordered by the state government to stop immunizing children. However Kaduna dropped its ban and the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that Niger and Bauchi had overcome their doubts and had agreed to resume polio vaccinations. "We have just received good news that Niger State, will start tomorrow [Friday] while another State, Bauchi called off its ban and started the vaccinations yesterday [Wednesday]," said WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer. The authorities in all five predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria had suspended polio vaccinations in response to fears spread by some Islamic preachers and activists that the vaccines had been deliberately contaminated with sterility agents and the HIV/AIDS virus as part of a Western plot to reduce the Muslim population. But UNICEF's Belamy said: "It is unforgivable to allow still more children to be paralysed because of further delay and baseless rumours. We call on these authorities to immediately rejoin the polio eradication effort, which promises to be one of Africa's greatest success stories in public health." "Nigerian leaders must take this opportunity now, or answer to their children," she added. Ten West African countries began a fresh polio vaccination campaign on 23 February as part of efforts to eradicate the disease from the world by the end of this year. Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. WHO and UNICEF together with other, organised the global campaign that hopes to see polio eradicated by the end of 2004.