After Egypt was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation in 2006, is polio making a comeback in 2013? Dr Ahmed Omar, the Ministry of Health’s media consultant, announced that that a random routine sample picked from the sewage water in Hagana and al-Salam—two populous east-of-Cairo neighbourhoods—and sent for investigation at the Infectious Disease Research Center in Atlanta. The result was positive for polio
After Egypt was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation in 2006, is polio making a comeback in 2013? Dr Ahmed Omar, the Ministry of Health’s media consultant, announced that that a random routine sample picked from the sewage water in Hagana and al-Salam—two populous east-of-Cairo neighbourhoods—and sent for investigation at the Infectious Disease Research Center in Atlanta. The result was positive for polio, but revealed that the genetic source was not Egyptian came from Southeast Asia.
The Ministry of Health has thus scheduled an extraordinary wide-scale immunisation campaign next February to vaccinate children under five against polio. The campaign will begin with the districts of Hagana and al-Salam, as well as Qalyubiya north of Cairo. These are the places where the samples tested positive for the virus.
Watani International
22 January 2013
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