Dan Bilefsky and Rick Gladstone, of The New York Times, report Polio Spreading at Alarming Rates, World Health Organization Declares.
PARIS — Alarmed by the spread of polio to fragile countries in three continents riven by conflict, the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency on Monday in an effort to contain the paralyzing virus, which officials thought two years ago had been nearly eradicated.
An emergency committee convened by the organization announced in Geneva that three countries — Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon — had allowed the virus to spread, and should take extraordinary measures to combat it, including making sure that all children in those countries are inoculated or reinoculated. ...
According to the health organization, there were 417 known new cases of polio around the world in 2013, compared with 223 in 2012, the lowest on record. Three-fifths of the new cases in 2013 were in regions that had previously been free of polio, a consequence of conflict and the interruption of vaccination campaigns, the organization said.
Ten countries are now affected with a new wild virus, including Pakistan, Syria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Iraq, and Somalia.
The W.H.O. reports war and conflict disrupt routine vaccination programs. Dr. Aylward, of Pakistan claims another major problem is resistance in conservative Taliban areas after American forces used "information gathered in part by a doctor under the guise of a vaccination program," to locate and kill Osama bin Ladin in 2011. The doctor was convicted of treason. Militants have repeatedly attacked health workers administering vaccines. Pakistan has become a major "exporter" of polio with the number of cases there rising to 93 last year from 58 in 2012.
India has apparently eradicated polio with no news cases in three years after having the most in the world in 2009.
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In other news of fighting viral outbreaks around the world The W.H.O. and the government of Guidea continue to express confidence that they can successfully contain the outbreak of Ebola to Guinea and Liberia and put an end to it in a few months. Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa: 226 Cases, 149 Deaths:
As of May 1, 2014, the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Guinea has reported a cumulative total of 226 clinical cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), including 149 deaths. Of 210 patients tested for ebolavirus infection, 127 cases have been laboratory confirmed by PCR, including 81 deaths. ...
The cumulative total of laboratory confirmed cases and deaths since the beginning of the outbreak is: Conakry (40 cases, including 20 deaths); Guekedou (72/49); Macenta (13/10); Kissidougou (1/1); and Dabola (1/1). The date of isolation of the most recent confirmed cases is 30 April in Conakry and Guekedou.
Judy Stone, of Scientific American, writes the best overview of the Middle Eastern Reporitory coronavirus I've read in, Muddled about MERS? Here’s A Quick Guide Stone is highly critical of Saudi Arabia for a lack of transparency about the several hundred cases they seem to have had there.
The recent surge in cases in Saudi Arabia is concerning, and there is no clear reason for the uptick. ... What we still lack is transparency and better cooperation between countries, which proved essential in stopping SARS.
Juan Perez Jr., of The Chicago Tribune reports good news in Indiana MERS patient in good condition. The patient with the first American case of MERS is getting better and no new cases have been reported and more than 75% of the people on the airplane she was on have been contacted with no reports of illness.
The first known person in the country to be diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, MERS, remains in good condition and is expected to return home soon, Indiana officials said this morning.
When we read stories such as these about global outbreaks of viral infection we can be so thankful that we have such effective governmental organizations like the Centers for Disease Control, and international groups such as the World Health Organization standing as a front line of defense and care to help and protect us.
