World Cup site WHO finds poliovirus in Brazil

Brazil: WHO finds poliovirus

06/25/2014

For the first time since 1989, polio was again detected in Brazil. As the World Health Organization (WHO) announced, the highly contagious poliovirus was discovered in Campinas. The city is about 100 kilometers away from a World Cup soccer venue.

Poliovirus discovered in sewer pipe
For the first time since 1989, polio has been detected in Brazil again. As the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday in Geneva, the highly contagious poliovirus was found in a sewer pipe at the international airport in Campinas. The samples had already been taken in March, but so far no infections have been reported. Since 95 percent of the population in the region are vaccinated, the transmission risk is rated as low overall.

100 kilometers from World Cup location
The city of Campinas is located about 100 kilometers from the World Cup location São Paulo. During the FIFA World Cup, both the Portuguese and Nigerian teams pitched their quarters in Campinas. WHO launched a global polio eradication program (poliomyelitis) in 1988. Following this, the number of official infections fell by more than 99 percent by 2012, from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to 223 in 2012. However, according to WHO, more than 400 cases were registered again last year. In Germany there were the last polio infections in 1992.

Polio is incurable
Polio is a poliovirus-induced infectious disease that affects the muscle-controlling nerve cells of the spinal cord and can lead to permanent paralysis or even death. About one in 200 infections leads to permanent paralysis. After an incubation period of one to two weeks, symptoms such as fever, sore throat, fatigue, diarrhea and nausea and vomiting may occur. Polio is not curable, but contagion can be prevented with vaccinations. (Ad)