Polio outbreak: World Health Organization declares international public health emergency

  • 10 years ago
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The WHO said on Monday that the spread of the polio virus constitutes an international health emergency, and for the second time in its history, the agency is calling for a coordinated international response to contain outbreaks in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

"If unchecked, this situation could result in failure to eradicate globally one of the world's most serious vaccine preventable diseases," the WHO said in a statement.

The polio virus is endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, but it has since spread to across borders. The WHO lists Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Somalia, and Nigeria as countries posing a risk for new polio exportations in 2014. It recommends citizens of affected countries traveling abroad to carry a vaccination certificate.

The WHO recorded 417 cases of polio worldwide in 2013. For 2014, 68 cases have already been recorded by 30 April.

Upon implantation, the virus multiplies in the small intestines, then enters the bloodstream and invades to the lymphatic system. 95% of infected cases are asymptomatic, which allows the virus to circulate unnoticed through a community. About 4 to 8% of the cases develop upper respiratory tract and GI disturbances along with flu like symptoms indistinguishable from other viral infections.

But the infection may reach motor neurons causing them to apoptose. Affected muscles no longer function as damaged nerve cells cannot be regenerated. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, and 5 to 10% of these patient die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.

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