Polio cases reemerge in several Western nations as battle against COVID continues

While we were dreading COVID-19 and taking precautions to put an end to its spread, resurgence of polio in some of the developed nations has sparked a new concern amidst the pandemic.

Polio, a deadly disease which was declared eradicated in many countries, has posed a worry for health authorities of the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. It started after the paralysing disease re-emerged in western nations, despite effective vaccines being widely available against the illness. There is no denying the fact that extraordinary advances have been made in the medical field in a bid to eradicate wild polio.

According to UNICEF, since 1988, the number of children paralysed by the virus has dwindled down to 99 per cent.

While there is no cure for polio, it may be prevented through a vaccine that can protect a child for life. The humanitarian aid organisation informs that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last nations wherein polio falls in the category of endemic. As per a UNICEF report, Africa was declared free of wild polio in 2020, after Nigeria received zero wild polio cases. Unfortunately, some cases have now started to re-emerge again in the continent, making it the first case of wild polio in Africa in five years. According to a recent report by news agency Reuters, it was on 12 August when health authorities identified polio virus in the wastewater of New York City, suggesting the local transmission of the virus.

Soon after this on 18 August, a 20-year-old New York man was diagnosed with polio, and his leg was paralysed. As per The New York Times, this year in February, Malawi announced its first case in three decades in a three-year-old girl. In addition, Pakistan itself reported 14 cases, of which eight were recorded in a single month.

Moreover, Israel witnessed its first case in March, since 1988. Then in June, British authorities reportedly went on to declare this an “incident of national concern”, when the authorities found the virus in the sewage. And now, polio eradication appears to be as elusive as ever.

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