Africa Closer To Polio Elimination With Marked Reduction In Case Numbers, CDC Reports

News outlets discuss a CDC report showing Africa has not recorded a wild poliovirus (WPV) case since August and Nigeria has seen a significant reduction in case numbers so far this year.

Slate: Are We on the Verge of a Polio-Free Africa?
“With all of the news about Ebola’s rapid, dispiriting spread through West Africa, you may have missed an encouraging public health development: The continent appears tantalizingly close to fully eradicating polio, once one of the world’s most feared and destructive diseases…” (Keating, 11/20).

TIME: Africa Nears Polio Eradication, CDC Says
“…No case of polio has been recorded on the continent since August, the report finds, and ones earlier this year were all found in Nigeria, one of the last three endemic nations alongside Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials recorded only six known cases of Type 1 WPV between January and September in Nigeria, marking a drastic reduction from 49 cases in the previous year…” (Kemey, 11/20).

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