IN 1961 Venezuela became the first country in Latin America virtually to eliminate malaria, using a combination of DDT, an insecticide, and drugs. The oil-rich country has now made health history again, this time in a bad way. On June 7th Venezuela’s health department reported to the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) the first case of polio in South America since 1991. This is a big worry, not only for Venezuela but for its neighbours. The re-emergence of polio strongly suggests that Venezuela’s vaccination programme has failed. With thousands of Venezuelans a day fleeing the country’s political and economic crisis, there is a risk that polio and other highly infectious diseases will spread to more countries in the region.
It is not clear what the source is of the infection reported to PAHO, which occurred in a child nearly three years old from the Warao indigenous community in the rural state of Delta Amacuro. The child might have been infected by someone who had been to a...Continue reading
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