Polio in Indonesia…again!
The much dreaded polio menace has crossed the Indian ocean from Nigeria to Indonesia, where the first ever polio case in a decade was discovered. It has been followed up by another case, which jeopardizes Indonesia’s efforts in trying to eradicate this crippling disease. Humanitarian agencies all over the world have been involved in eradication efforts for the past two decades. I have been personally involved [with Rotary International] briefly in immunization drives, held twice a year in India. Nigeria has been the culprit so far preventing the world from being completely polio-free; smallpox was the last disease to be completely eradicated. Much of the blame has been attributed to Muslim clerics who spread the grossly false rumor that the vaccine has been contaminated to make Muslims infertile. After seeing little children crippled by this incurable disease, you would personally feel like wringing the necks of these stone-age clerics.
It is totally unfortunate that Indonesia has been ‘re-infected’ with this deadly virus. BBC News contends that the strain arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia via Nigeria. Nigeria continues to export this deadly virus apart from continually spreading the bank scam email all over the world.
“Polio in Indonesia…again!” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=674] was published Friday, May 6th, 2005 at 11:00 am by Patrix, filed under The world is ill. Both comments and linkbacks are closed.
