More polio cases confirmed as campaign planned

Yemen is to conduct its fifth nationwide vaccination campaign against polio from 27 September amid reports that more cases of the disease have been confirmed in the country since August. The three-day campaign will target millions of children below the age of five – in a country which has reported three-quarters of all polio cases in the world. Another campaign is planned for December 2005 or January 2006. "The number of confirmed cases of polio [as at] 14 September reached 458," Hashim al-Zain, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Yemen, said. The new cases represent an increase of 32 from 426 reported in August. However, Al-Zain said they were mainly cases which had been under examination for a month and a half. "No new cases have been reported for the last two months," he said. Cases of the disease have risen in Yemen despite the completion by the health ministry in August of several rounds of vaccination against the disease. This followed an outbreak in May when 18 cases were confirmed. Poliomyelitis ("polio") is caused by a virus which enters the body orally and infects the intestinal lining. It may proceed to the bloodstream and into the central nervous system, causing muscle weakness and often paralysis. In areas with poor hygiene and sanitation, the virus spreads through human contact, usually via water or food that is contaminated by faeces. It can also be transmitted through coughing and sneezing in crowded environments. The campaign in Yemen is part of a series being coordinated across eight countries - Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and parts of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - between September and November. The current outbreak is believed to have spread from Nigeria across Africa to Yemen, after some local officials in Nigeria refused to allow vaccination for months, claiming it was ploy by western countries to make Muslim children infertile.