Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A10

November 14, 2013

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » World

21 nations take up polio ‘emergency’

Source: Agencies | November 14, 2013, Thursday | Print Edition

The World Health Organization says 21 nations in the Middle East and nearby regions are jointly declaring the eradication of polio as an emergency priority, and are singling out Pakistan as a key part of the problem.

The UN’s health agency’s statement said yesterday the joint resolution by nations in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region have called on Pakistan to urgently vaccinate all of its children to prevent the virus from spreading internationally. Pakistan also approved the resolution.

WHO officials said that the polio virus has now been confirmed in 13 of 22 children who became paralyzed in a northern Syrian province.

The health agency says the Syria outbreak comes from a strain that originated in Pakistan, where, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, it is endemic and has been spreading across the Middle East.

It says the virus has been detected in Egypt, and closely related strains of Pakistani origin turned up in sewage samples in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but higher immunization rates in those places have helped keep the virus in check.

 

World


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend