A worrying virus – Is polio back in the West?

– Is polio back in the West?

New cases have been reported in the United States and Israel. Traces of poliovirus have also been found in sewage in London.

Posted today at 4:01 p.m.

Before the launch of the global polio immunization program in 1998, thousands of children were still infected with polio in Africa, like here in Menagesha, Ethiopia, in 1997.

AP/JEAN-MARC BOUJU

Until recently, the situation seemed very encouraging. Amid the first year of the coronavirus crisis, public health experts were able to celebrate the success of polio eradication across Africa. Last year, only six cases of poliomyelitis were recorded worldwide. The goal of global eradication has never been closer. The virus continues to circulate only in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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