ParfumGigi@aol.com
30 avril, 2005 01:36
'Major' Polio Epidemic Hits Yemen, 22 Infected - WHO
Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:25 AM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - An epidemic of polio has broken out in Yemen, infecting 22 children with the paralyzing virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
The United Nations health agency, which reported four cases around the Red Sea port city of al-Hudaydah last week, said 18 more children had contracted the disease throughout the poor Arab state.
"What we are facing now is a major epidemic of polio in Yemen," David Heymann, head of the WHO's polio eradication program, told a news briefing in Geneva.
It was not yet known whether there had been any fatalities.
The WHO was awaiting genetic analysis of the virus to determine whether it had been imported from neighboring Saudi Arabia or Sudan, which have both registered polio cases in the past year.
"We'll probably never be able to know whether the virus came from pilgrimage (to Mecca) or from guest workers... What is important is that the virus is there, and now we have to stop it," Heymann said.
Prior to the outbreak, Yemen had not reported any polio cases since 1996, according to the WHO.
