Polio outbreak in India spurs big rise in cases
A virulent outbreak of polio in northern India has led to a near-tenfold increase in the number of cases nationwide and resulted in the incurable virus emerging elsewhere in Asia and in Africa.
Originating in two districts in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, the disease has affected 416 people this year and spread to Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra. By the same point last year, India had registered 43 polio cases.
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Genetic analysis of fresh cases in several previously polio-free countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Angola, Namibia and Congo, points to India, which has a large migrant population, as the source of a new global outbreak of the disease. "There are only two countries in the world exporting polio across national borders. One is India, and specifically the state of Uttar Pradesh, and the other is Nigeria," said David Heymann, special representative for polio eradication at the World Health Organisation.
With more than 40 per cent of government medical officer positions in districts of western Uttar Pradesh lying vacant, the populous state is the single weakest link in global efforts to eradicate the disease, polio eradication officials say.
"India as a whole has never been more committed but, at state level, until all positions are filled, they will have a very difficult job in succeeding in their efforts as they will have to bring in people from outside," Mr Heymann said.
The number of new polio infections worldwide fell from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to a little less than 700 in 2003 - a reduction of more than 99 per cent - but has now climbed back to 1,500 so far this year, with more than a quarter of them in India.
"If the world is to succeed in eliminating polio, India has to succeed, and if India has to succeed, Uttar Pradesh has to succeed," Anbumani Ramadoss, India's health minister, said recently.
Chronic absenteeism among public health officials in Uttar Pradesh, combined with a belief that the virus had been all but eradicated, reduced the effectiveness of immunisation drives in late 2005, WHO officials say.
The setback to the country's eradication campaign has left India harbouring 28 per cent of the world's polio case load, up from its 3 per cent share last year.
印度爆发小儿麻痹症
印度北部爆发严重的小儿麻痹症，使印度全国该病例数量上升近10倍，并导致这种不可治愈的病毒蔓延至一些亚非国家。
该疾病源自印度北部北方邦(Uttar Pradesh)的两个区，今年已导致416人感染，并蔓延至其它地区。截至去年同期，印度小儿麻痹症病例的登记数为43例。
此前，从未出现过小儿麻痹症病例的国家（包括孟加拉国、尼泊尔、安哥拉、纳米比亚和刚果）也首次发现了该病例。有关部门对这些新增病例进行了基因分析，指出拥有大量流动人口的印度，是导致该疾病在全球再次爆发的源头。
全球小儿麻痹症新增病例数，从1988年的约35万例，降至2003年的不足700例，但今年迄今为止，新增病例数已反弹至1500例，其中逾四分之一发生在印度。
