South Sudan reports three polio cases, first since 2009
South Sudan health ministry officials have declared a national health emergency in the country following an outbreak of polio that has infected at least three children, according to a Sudan Tribune report.
South Sudan
Image/CIA
Voice of America reports the three children, two girls, aged two and eight, in Aweil South county, Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, and a two-year-old girl in Ikotos county, in Eastern Equatoria, were confirmed as having polio by the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi on Sept. 26.
South Sudan was declared polio-free in 2009.
Vaccination campaigns have begun in the affected states in an attempt to prevent further spread of the virus. A nationwide campaign is slated to occur over the next three months.
The South Sudan Health Ministry is working closely with World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and other key partners to ensure the most effective response to the disease outbreak.
Health authorities have been on high alert after the polio outbreak, which began in Somalia this spring, and spread through the Horn of Africa.
As of Sept. 25. the polio outbreak on the Horn of Africa has climbed to 191 cases.
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[…] addition, as previously reported on The Global Dispatch, three suspected cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) from South Sudan are currently being […]