ETHIOPIA: Sharp rise in reported polio cases

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ADDIS ABABA, 2 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - The number of reported polio cases in Ethiopia has risen sharply from two to 16 this year, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported.

The first two cases were children living close to the border with Sudan, where a polio outbreak was reported in December 2000.

"These were the first cases of polio in Ethiopia in four years - the last being in January 2001," WHO said in a statement released on Wednesday. "Both cases are wild polio virus type 1 and genetically linked to the polio virus circulating in neighbouring Sudan."

The additional 14 cases, WHO added, were detected in children aged between 8 months and 11 years in Tigray, Amhara and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia.

The agency urged Ethiopian authorities to strengthen routine immunisation of children, particularly in areas affected by the virus, and also called for coordinated anti-polio campaigns, saying the virus had spread along porous borders.

When the first cases were reported, the UN made an urgent appeal for US $4.9 million to vaccinate 14.7 million children against polio.

The Ethiopian government declared a public health emergency and launched two rounds of nationwide polio immunisation campaigns in April and May 2005. A third campaign was completed in August.

According to WHO, Ethiopia was expecting to be declared polio free in 2005 - a qualification it would have achieved after recording no cases for three years.

However, it has become the 14th formerly polio-free African country to record a new case, following earlier reports that a new epidemic originated in northern Nigeria 18 months ago.

Globally, the poliovirus circulates in no more than 20 countries - mainly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa - down from 30 in 1999 and 125 in 1988, when a major anti-polio campaign was launched.

Poliomyelitis - polio - is a highly infectious disease with no cure. It is caused by a virus that mainly affects children under three years of age.

The virus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs.

Over the last two years, more than 14 million Ethiopian children have been vaccinated against the crippling virus. Across the world, more than 550 million children have been vaccinated.

[ENDS]