World Health Organization warns of ‘dangerous’ polio strain

The State Column | Staff | Tuesday, September 20, 2011

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The World Health Organization issued a statement Tuesday, warning China and Pakistan of a deadly strain of polio that seems to have crossed the border of the two nations.

“The WHO rates as ‘high’ the risk of further international spread of wild polio virus from Pakistan, particularly given the expected large-scale population movements associated with Umra and the upcoming Haj…in the coming months,” the WHO said in a statement.
The U.N. health agency says a genetic link has been confirmed between wild poliovirus type 1 detected in China and a strain circulating in Pakistan. The warning comes as the first outbreak of polio seems to be related to the annual Haj pilgrimage in the region. Haj is the main annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
The polio outbreak involved a dangerous strain of the disease which spreads more easily than others and is more likely to cause paralysis. Pakistan reported that is has identified nearly 84 cases of the strain, while China has yet to release official figures. Nine cases have been confirmed in China, according to news reports. All are genetically linked to the polio virus circulating in Pakistan, the United Nations agency said.
The WHO warned that officials are likely to see an increase in polio cases as the annual pilgrimages moves to security-compromised parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan, where there is little access to medical treatment and clinics.
“The key to success will be to overcome remaining operational challenges in fully-accessible areas and implemented special outreach strategies with full community participation to increase access to populations in security-compromised areas,” the agency said. “To achieve this, full and consistent engagement and accountability at provincial, district and union-council level is urgently needed.”
The global health body noted that countries should combat the spread of the disease by increasing disease surveillance systems and travellers to Pakistan should be vaccinated against polio.
World Health Organization warns of ‘dangerous’ polio strain