NIGERIA: New polio cases on the decline , says UNICEF

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NIGERIA: New polio cases on the decline , says UNICEF

LAGOS, 25 April (IRIN) - The spread of the polio virus has declined sharply
in Nigeria, the UN Children's Fund reported this week. It said 57 cases of
poliomyelitis were recorded in 2001 as against 2,000 in the previous year.
Nine cases have been recorded this year from a surveillance of 12 of
Nigeria's 36 states, UNICEF added in a statement made available to IRIN on
Thursday.

"Interruption of viral transmission in 2002 is possible, but will require
tremendously well-coordinated efforts," Tom Mshindi, the UNICEF Nigeria
spokesman, said in the statement. Both "genetic and epidemiological
evidence" pointed to a drop in the spread of the polio virus, he said.

UNICEF reported that more than 200 million doses of oral polio vaccines were
used in five rounds of vaccination in 2001, in which about 40 million
children under five years were immunised against the virus. It added that
over 95 percent coverage was achieved in Nigeria which, with 120 million
inhabitants, is Africa's most populous country.

Nigeria is one of the world's three remaining reservoirs of the polio virus,
the others being India and Pakistan.
[ENDS]

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