Wednesday Jun. 23, 2010 7:08 PM ET
TORONTO — The Canadian Medical Association Journal is warning that a large outbreak of polio in Tajikistan is threatening to reignite spread of the dangerous virus in other regions of the world.
An editorial in the journal warns that places where polio vaccination rates have sagged are at risk of having renewed spread of the disease if the outbreak isn't brought under control.
The journal's top editors say Canada needs to ramp up polio vaccination rates here, because there are communities where immunization rates aren't high enough to keep polio from spreading if it is introduced.
The World Health Organization says that as of Wednesday there have been 275 confirmed cases of polio in Tajikistan and test results are still pending on another 300 possible cases.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who heads of the WHO's polio eradication program, says the outbreak there appears to be coming under control, but it is too soon to say for sure.
The WHO and several partner organizations have been trying to eradicate polio for the past 22 years but the goal keeps evading them.
TORONTO — The Canadian Medical Association Journal is warning that a large outbreak of polio in Tajikistan is threatening to reignite spread of the dangerous virus in other regions of the world.
An editorial in the journal warns that places where polio vaccination rates have sagged are at risk of having renewed spread of the disease if the outbreak isn't brought under control.
The journal's top editors say Canada needs to ramp up polio vaccination rates here, because there are communities where immunization rates aren't high enough to keep polio from spreading if it is introduced.
The World Health Organization says that as of Wednesday there have been 275 confirmed cases of polio in Tajikistan and test results are still pending on another 300 possible cases.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who heads of the WHO's polio eradication program, says the outbreak there appears to be coming under control, but it is too soon to say for sure.
The WHO and several partner organizations have been trying to eradicate polio for the past 22 years but the goal keeps evading them.
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