Yemen Has 41 New Polio Cases, WHO Says
The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that 41 new cases of polio had been confirmed in Yemen, bringing the total in that country to 63.
In the last few weeks, four cases also have been reported in Indonesia. Both countries had been free of the disease.
Six million doses of monovalent oral polio vaccine type 1, which can confer immunity in a single dose, were shipped to Yemen for use later this month. International agencies also are providing millions of doses to Indonesia.
The outbreaks have been linked to northern Nigeria, an endemic polio area where vaccinations were suspended for 11 months in 2003 and 2004 after Muslim leaders claimed the vaccines caused AIDS and infertility.
The Nigerian vaccination problem was resolved, but not before the virus spread to other countries.
The WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been working since 1988 to end polio transmission worldwide. Annual cases of polio dropped from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,267 last year.
The groups have said they hope to eradicate the disease this year. Dr. Bruce Aylward, coordinator of global polio eradication for the WHO, said he believed the new outbreaks would not prevent elimination of the disease.
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