Matshidiso Moeti, Regional Director for Africa at the World Health Organization (WHO), said the new finding was “extremely worrying”.
New the case of organic polio has been reported in Mozambique in southern Africa, Acting Director of the African Center for Disease Prevention and Control; Ahmed Ogwell Ouma said Thursday. The news agency Reuters reported on the topic.
According to Ogwell Ouma, the case is very similar to what was reported in February in Malawi, a neighboring country of Mozambique.
No cases of organic polio have been reported in Mozambique or Malawi for 30 years. In Malawi, a polio infection was reported in a three-year-old girl who was paralyzed after the infection.
Although reported cases of organic polio are isolated, they have been of considerable concern.
The Guardian says the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti noted that the new discovery is “extremely worrying” and shows how dangerous the virus is and how quickly it can spread.
The case, found in Mozambique, is located in the northern province of Tete. The country is now investigating the extent of the risk posed by the new case and what measures need to be taken to prevent further infections.
Earlier this year, more than four million children were vaccinated against polio in Mozambique following the case in Malawi.
New ones cases of polio are worrying because the disappearance of poliovirus has been seen as a historic milestone in the fight against infectious diseases.
In 2020, it was announcedthat the poliovirus had completely disappeared from Africa, and since then the virus has spread regionally only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Polio has been successfully eradicated through mass vaccinations. A vaccine was developed for the disease as early as the 1950s, but it was out of reach of many of the poorest countries in Africa and Asia.
As late as 1988, there were 350,000 polio cases worldwide, according to the WHO. In 1996, the organization reported that there were more than 70,000 cases in Africa alone.
Polio disappeared from Finland as early as the 1960s due to vaccinations, but returned once again in the 1980s. The majority of polio infections are asymptomatic, and most often the symptoms are flu-like.
If the poliovirus enters the central nervous system, it damages the nerve cells responsible for muscle function, causing muscle paralysis and subsequent atrophy.
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