GENEVA - MYANMAR is stepping up its polio vaccinations after the crippling virus emerged for the first time in more than three years, infecting an infant, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.
A seven-month-old girl caught a rare strain of polio that can spread when some people in a community are immunised with oral polio vaccine (OPV) and others are not, WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer said. She had not been vaccinated against the disease.
'On very rare occasions, when replicating in the human gut, OPV strains genetically change and may spread in communities that are not fully vaccinated, especially in areas where there is poor hygiene, poor sanitation or overcrowding,' he said.
Polio is transmitted in human excrement. Communities that lack clean water, toilets and sewer systems are particularly vulnerable to infections when not enough people are immunised against the virus.
There are no other known cases of paralysis from the strain in Myanmar, which was found in December, according to the WHO. More than 10,000 children have been immunised in response to the discovery and more vaccinations are planned.
'It seems to have occurred in an area with population immunity gaps, so the key is to rapidly raise immunity levels,' Mr Rosenbauer said. Polio attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, with young children most vulnerable. -- REUTERS
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