"The effort in Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries and badly hit by the aid cuts, has seen an astonishing 1.3 million children already vaccinated against the disease in just four days after emergency supplies were airlifted in by the World Health Organization (WHO) just over a week ago. Malawi declared the outbreak after the virus was detected in two environmental samples taken from two sewage plants in Blantyre, the country's second-largest city and where the only known victim lives."
"It is the latest setback to the global efforts to eradicate polio, something that had seemed tantalisingly close 28 years ago, when there were just 2,880 cases remaining in 20 countries thanks to a vaccine given as drops into a child's mouth. But the virus has remained stubbornly persistent in some of the most remote parts of the world. Health workers prepare to administer oral polio vaccines to children in Blantyre's Ndirande township last week."
Malawi launched a major vaccination campaign after polio was detected in environmental sewage samples in Blantyre and one child was confirmed ill. Emergency vaccine supplies were airlifted by WHO and 1.3 million children were vaccinated in four days. A single polio case is particularly dangerous in low-immunity areas because the virus spreads silently and often causes mild symptoms while occasionally causing irreversible paralysis or death in children. Malawi had no wild poliovirus cases since 2022. The resurgence represents a setback to global eradication efforts and underscores that elimination must be complete to prevent resurgence.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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