Confirmed polio cases reach 300

Although the number of confirmed polio cases in Yemen has soared to 300, a massive immunisation campaign starting on 12 July should go a long way to reducing further infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Yemen, Dr Hashim Al-Zain, said in the capital, Sana. The polio outbreak was confirmed in mid-May after 18 cases were reported, following the completion of a routine national immunisation programme conducted in April. "The number of polio virus cases has gone up to 300, across 17 provinces. We got the most recent results on 29 June. The governorate of Hodeidah [226 km west of the capital] was the worst affected area with 197 cases," Al-Zain added. The WHO official pointed out that the spread of the virus was directly related to the lack of proper immunisation in Yemen. "The virus hit 17 provinces so badly because there has been low vaccination, particularly in places like Hodeidah. Therefore, the virus has found a good environment to grow," Al-Zain explained. Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will collaborate on the three-day nationwide vaccination starting on 12 July. This drive will be the second of two vaccination rounds and will target some three million people, including 800,000 children below the age of five. Minister of Health, Mohammed Al-Nomai and UNICEF communications coordinator, Naseem Ur-Rehman earlier denied reports that the reason for the increase in cases was the lack of safe vaccines. "The safety of the vaccines is completely ensured from their entrance into the country to their delivery to the children's mouths," Ur-Rehman said. He urged the media to contribute to making the campaign a success. Al-Nomee has said that such reports had influenced some parents against taking their children to be vaccinated. It has been reported that the crippling disease spread from Nigeria to 12 other African countries, including Sudan. From there, it was imported to Saudi Arabia, health officials said. "I think this virus was definitely brought to Yemen, because we had no problem [with polio] for the last six years. If the virus was indigenous we would have seen it within the last six years," the Yemeni health official explained earlier. There are only six countries in the world considered polio-endemic: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt. A total of 1,266 cases of polio were reported worldwide in 2004, according to the WHO. Yemen was designated polio free by WHO in 1996.