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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| WHO: Polio strikes in Botswana |
| 2004-04-14 |
| First case in more than a decade Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Posted: 9:59 AM EDT (1359 GMT) GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- International efforts to wipe out polio face a setback after the southern African nation of Botswana reported its first case in more than a decade, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The United Nations health agency said a 7-year-old boy was infected by a virus similar to that found in the disease reservoir in Nigeria, one of the last bastions of polio. WHO declared Botswana polio-free in 1991. It said the Botswana government is planning a nationwide emergency vaccination campaign and the country’s neighbors have been urged to be vigilant. WHO is leading efforts to eradicate polio by next year. The disease is only endemic in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Niger and Egypt. However, an immunization campaign in Nigeria has been marred by a six-month polio vaccine boycott in the West African nation’s predominantly Islamic northern state of Kano. Shouldn’t the Nigerian Imams responsible for this new African polio outbreak be indicted for crimes against humanity? The death and lifelong suffering they have bred up with their paranoid anti-western propaganda campaign is tantamount to murder. |
| Posted by:Zenster |