Mali: Polio resurfaces in Mali from Ebola-hit Guinea, says WHO

| September 14, 2015

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According to the World Health Organization, the polio virus could spread in Guinea and Mali after a Guinean child travelled to Mali and became the country’s first polio case in more than four years.

Cory Couillard is a WHO spokesman. He says: “The risk of spread is considered to be high in both countries due to low rates of vaccination coverage. Both countries are taking coordinated emergency response measures to bring the outbreak to an end quickly.”

There is no cure for polio, which attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.

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Photo: In this file photo from 2011, a child receives vitamins during a vaccination campaign against polio organized by UNICEF (Ivory Coast) at St. Ambrose church in Angree, Abidjan. Credit: REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon