Polio’s Return After Near Eradication Prompts a Global Health Warning

Health workers vaccinate a child in Afghanistan. Credit Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Donald G. McNeil Jr. - May 5, 2014

Alarmed by the spread of polio to several fragile countries, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Monday for only the second time since regulations permitting it to do so were adopted in 2007.

Just two years ago — after a 25-year campaign that vaccinated billions of children — the paralyzing virus was near eradication; now health officials say that goal could evaporate if swift action is not taken. . .

. . . “Things are going in the wrong direction and have to get back on track before something terrible happens,” said Gregory Hartl, a W.H.O. spokesman.

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CLICK HERE - WHO statement on the meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee concerning the international spread of wild poliovirus