Polio causes 200 deaths in the Congo
A RARE and unusually fatal outbreak of polio in Republic of Congo has caused more than 200 deaths in the Central African nation, a Unicef spokesman said yesterday.
The disease usually strikes children under the age of five, but most of those affected have been young men between the ages of 15 and 24, said Martin Dawes, the agency's West Africa spokesman.
"Polio is an absolutely a red-hot travelling virus, which will affect a lot of people if immunisation rates are not good," he said. "The fact we have this virus means there was a hole in the immunisation rates in the past."
Up to 10 per cent of people paralysed by polio can die when their breathing muscles stop working.
However, Mr Dawes said that 42 per cent of the cases in Republic of Congo had been fatal.
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