LONDON (AP) — Polio, a dreaded paralysing disease stamped out in the industrialised world, is spreading in Nigeria despite efforts to stamp it out. Health officials say in some cases, it's caused by a mutation in the vaccine used to fight it.
In July, the World Health Organisation issued a warning that this vaccine-spread virus might extend beyond Africa. So far, 124 Nigerian children have been paralysed this year — about twice those afflicted in 2008.
Wary Citizens
The polio problem is just the latest challenge to global health authorities trying to convince wary citizens that vaccines can save them from dreaded disease. For years, myths have abounded about vaccines, that they were the Western world's plan to sterilise Africans or give them AIDS.
Contaminated Vaccine
The latest sad reality about polio vaccine, fuels misguided fears and underscores the challenges authorities face using a flawed or contaminated vaccine.
Nigeria and most other poor nations use an oral polio vaccine because it's cheaper, easier to store in hot countries, and protects entire communities but it is made from a live polio virus, albeit a very much weakened version.
Mutation of Live Vaccine
Unfortunately, it still carries a small risk of causing polio for every million or so doses given. In even rarer instances, the virus in the vaccine can mutate into a deadlier version that ignites new outbreaks.
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