Polio epidemic in Congo

United Nations officials have called for an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to allow vaccinations to reach millions of children threatened by a sudden epidemic of polio.

The aggressive return of the contagious paralysing virus comes just five years after it was declared eradicated in most of the world.

It marks a major setback in the race to make polio only the third disease, after smallpox and the cattle virus rinderpest, to be eradicated.

After an outbreak this year of so-called wild poliovirus, the first round of an unprecedented vaccination campaign aimed at 72 million children under 5 was launched in 15 African countries in November.

But vaccination teams have struggled to reach children in war zones, such as eastern DRC, where government forces, the Rwandan army and militias are fighting.

"We are calling on all parties to the conflict to respect the vaccination days and cease fighting," said Pierrette Vu Thi, who represents Unicef, the United Nations children's fund, in the DRC. "All children have the same right to health."

According to the charitable organisation Rotary International, one of the main supporters of the African vaccination effort, up to 800 suspected cases of polio have been found in the past six months in 12 African countries.

"As soon as we have one case of polio, we consider that we are dealing with an epidemic," said Andre Kasogo, a Unicef immunisation officer in the DRC. "Polio is highly contagious. One person can pass the virus to 200 others."

The World Health Organisation puts the number of confirmed cases of polio in Africa this year at only 139, but spokesman Rod Curtis said: "Determining numbers is complex. Multiple factors, such as the Republic of Congo not having seen polio for 10 years, or adults dying before being able to provide stool samples, mean that a significant number of early cases in the outbreak did not provide diagnostic specimens."

Poliomyelitis appears via a fever which kills some victims and subsides of its own accord in others.

Days or weeks later some survivors wake up paralysed, often in one leg and in the arm on the opposite side of the body.

- OBSERVER