Pakistan: Lahore declared 'high risk' for polio

http://dunyanews.tv/

The highly contagious virus often spreads in areas with poor sanitation.

Lahore has been declared as high risk for polio after the virus was detected in environmental sample, Dunya News reported on Wednesday.

The sample was taken from a sewer near outfall road in the city.

Punjab health department has announced to launch anti-polio campaign in 73 union councils of the provincial capital from May 5, 2014. In Pakistan - the only country where polio cases are increasing - gunmen frequently attack polio workers, accusing them of being Western spies and part of a plot to sterilize Muslims. In neighboring Afghanistan, a three-year-old girl was found in February to have contracted the first case of polio in the country s capital Kabul since 2001. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world left where the virus remains endemic, largely due to violent conflicts, weak health systems and poor sanitation.

Until the 1950s, polio crippled thousands every year in rich countries. It attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection.

The highly contagious virus often spreads in areas with poor sanitation and children under five are the most vulnerable.