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BREAKING: Polio Outbreak Hits Nigerian Community
- A polio outbreak has hit a Nigerian community.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Adamawa State Government has announced the reemergence and detection of the Circulating Vaccine Derived Poliovirus type 2 ((VDPV) case in the state.
The State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Prof. Abdullahi Isa, made the disclosure at the official flag-off of first Round Outbreak Response immunisation in Yola, the Adamawa State capital on Saturday.
Speaking, the commissioner described the Vaccine Derived Poliovirus type 2 as a strain of the weakened Poliovirus that was initially included in Oral Polio Vaccine that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus.
Isa further expressed concern that the current resurface of the Polio in the state was a great challenge and danger for possible outbreak of the transmissible virus.
He disclosed that one case of Circulating Vaccine Derived Poliovirus type 2 has been detected in the state, adding that the situation has been posing a great danger of Poliovirus outbreak in the state.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Eradication Of Polio Excites UNICEF
“The resurface of the Poliovirus type 2 necessitated the immediate flag-off of the first Round Outbreak Response for Oral Polio Vaccine,” Isa stated.
The commissioner added that the state government, with the support from the developmental partners, WHO and UNICEF, among others, had trained about 800 health personnel to carry out the routine immunisation for polio vaccination.
Isa, therefore, noted that about one million children below age five were targeted in the outbreak response vaccination across the state.
Also speaking at the event, the WHO state coordinator, Iyobosa Igbinovia, recalled that Nigeria was, in August 2020, declared a free and safe country from Poliovirus.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that Igbinovia, however, said the resurface of the Polio virus was a threat to healthcare services not only in Adamawa but for the North-East in general.
“WHO is working hand in hand with the state government to ensure total eradication of the virus and to ensure every eligible child is vaccinated against Polio,” Igbinovia added.
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