Disease

Wild-Polio Outbreak in Nigeria

Nigerian health officials announced on Thursday, the same day they expected to celebrate the anniversary, that two children have been paralysed by wild polio in the country’s northeastern Borno State.

Borno State will now undergo three rounds of emergency immunizations, he added. Neighbouring countries have also been put on alert to look for cases of wild polio.

Other than Nigeria, only Afghanistan and Pakistan still experience outbreaks of wild polio virus. The two countries have had 19 cases of wild polio so far this year.

Wild polio is not to be confused with vaccine-derived polio, a weaker form of the virus that sometimes emerges when a country’s health system is under considerable stress. Last year, two children in Ukraine contracted this less virulent form of the disease.