Last summer, Nigeria celebrated having gone a year without a case of polio. But then last month, two children in Nigeria were diagnosed with polio paralysis, in Borno state (in northeastern Nigeria) in areas liberated from Boko Haram militants.
Last week, Nigeria met an important milestone: An entire year without a reported case of polio. This leaves just two countries where polio is endemic.
A few recent pieces worth a look
Earlier this week, a UN official told AFP that a child in North Waziristan, Pakistan had contracted polio — the first reported case since tribesman in North Waziristan stopped authorities from conducted a vaccination campaign in June last year
A few recent pieces worth a look
The Family and Medical Leave Act is 20 years old and still doesn’t cover 40% of workers; researchers find evidence of brain damage in five former football players while they’re still alive; and a police officer protecting polio workers in Pakistan was killed.
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
UN halts Pakistan polio vaccination campaign after eight workers killed in 48 hours
Over the course of 48 hours, gunmen shot and killed eight vaccination workers in and around Karachi and Peshawar.
Members of Congress and the Mine Safety & Health Administration respond to an investigative series on the resurgence of black lung disease among miners; OSHA cracks down on railroad employers who retaliate against whistleblowing employees, and relies on education rather than an emergency standard to address heat stress; and gunmen in Pakistan attack the vehicle of a doctor involved in a polio vaccination campaign.
The World Health Organization has confirmed that India has gone a whole year without having a new case of polio — a major milestone in a country that was once plagued by the crippling disease. BBC’s Fergus Walsh explains that the country won’t formally be regarded as polio-free until it’s gone another two years without […]
A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked (or, in the case of the first item, found horribly disturbing but important): Maryn McKenna at Superbug: Ringing the Warning Bell: Colistin-Resistant Klebsiella J. Malcolm Garcia in Guernica: Smoke Screen (“In Afghanistan, the U.S. military disposes of garbage–computers, motorbikes, TVs, shoes, even human feces–in open burn pits. […]