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Burundi: Country Announces First Polio Outbreak in More Than 30 Years
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Burundi Announces First Polio Outbreak in More Than 30 Years
Health authorities in Burundi have announced that they had identified eight samples of polio, marking the country's first outbreak of the disease in over 30 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the cases included a four-year-old boy in the Isale district of western Burundi who had not been vaccinated, along with two others who had been in contact with him. In addition, environmental surveillance of wastewater detected the presence of the circulating poliovirus type 2 in five samples.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said that the discovery demonstrates the effectiveness of disease surveillance in the East African nation.
The Burundian government - which has declared the detection of the virus a national public health emergency - plans to implement a vaccination campaign to combat polio in the coming weeks, aiming at protecting all eligible children, from newborns to age seven.
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