Amanda O’Donnell
February 27, 2009
10:30 am
Kenya announced its first polio infection in 20 years on Wednesday, after a 4-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease along the country's remote border with Sudan. “In a country free of polio, when you make a diagnosis of one case of polio the definition is an outbreak," said Dr. David Okello, country representative of the World Health Organization. They were investigating a second case in Lokichoggio, 900 kilometers (560 miles) north of the capital city of Nairobi, where an infant had shown symptoms of the disease.
Polio is an infectious disease that mainly strikes children under five. It is spread primarily by the feces of an infected person getting into the food chain. It causes paralysis and can be fatal. Many Kenyan children were not immunized due to post election violence in 2008, which left more than 1,000 people dead and 600,000 people displaced from their homes. Many have still not returned home.
The next 10 days health officials will conduct immediate vaccination of Lokichoggio and surrounding areas to prevent the spread of the disease and then a synchronized vaccination campaign involving Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda.
First of all, I think that is amazing that it is the first case for them in 20 years. Also the process that the World Health Organization is going through to make sure that the disease does not spread any further. This is a very serious situation and I really though that they would do nothing about it and act as if it were not a problem at all but they are really taking action for this country and that is very exciting. Also due to the election the immunization went from 100% to 60%. They were so concerned about their election that they were letting their health of their country diminish. I think what I found most interesting were the efforts being put into the case because most time in Africa they do not worry about things like that.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irISeDANBDO50uQxugSP8yVjicdAD96IL8NG0
I just wrote my blog which was about Polio as well. It seems as if it is only a minor disease it is still getting alot of recognition through the news, which is a good thing because it makes people more aware of the struggles going around the world.
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