POLIO EMERGENCY

WHO: Spread of polio is an international public health emergency 

Outbreaks in Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon have the World Health Organization worried that the incurable disease will keep spreading. Health officials have been working for decades to eradicate polio, which usually strikes kids under 5.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Monday, May 5, 2014, 2:59 PM

 

HOSAM KATAN/REUTERS A child receives a polio vaccine in Aleppo, Syria, on May 4. Conflicts in war-torn countries are complicating efforts to contain and eradicate the disease, health officials warned.

LONDON — For the first time ever, the World Health Organization on Monday declared the spread of polio an international public health emergency that could grow in the next few months and unravel the nearly three-decade effort to eradicate the crippling disease.
The agency described current polio outbreaks across at least 10 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as an “extraordinary event” that required a coordinated international response. It identified Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon as having allowed the virus to spread beyond their borders, and recommended that those three governments require citizens to obtain a certificate proving they have been vaccinated for polio before traveling abroad.
“Until it is eradicated, polio will continue to spread internationally, find and paralyze susceptible kids,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, who leads WHO’s polio efforts, said during a press briefing.

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