The World Health Organization said on Monday that polio cases in Nigeria are up 400% over last year, with 43 reported cases this year as opposed to 11 last year.

The WHO says that polio now affects eight states in northern Nigeria, which is up two more than just a few months ago, the BBC reports. WHO official Thomas Moran said that controlling the polio virus in Nigeria is the key to eradicating the disease in Africa.

Moran went on to say that the agency was working hard to prevent the spread of the disease by carrying out large scale vaccination programs in the area. Still, the disease has crept onto several neighboring countries, including Chad, Mali and Ivory Coast.

The official said that Nigerian’s government has been largely cooperative with WHO’s efforts to wipe out the disease in the region.

“The immunity profile of Nigerian children is far better [now], which limits the risk of international spread of the virus,” he said. “You can call it a four-fold increase but it is still very low transmission in a country as large as Nigeria with almost 50m children under five.”

Nigeria is one of only four nations in the world where polio is still considered to be a serious medical threat. The other three countries include Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.

Source: BBC

[Image credit: REUTERS / Wayne Conradie]

Polio cases in Nigeria up 400% over last year is a post from: The Inquisitr

The World Health Organization on Monday announced that they are one step closer to eliminating one-third of all worldwide malaria cases over the next 10 years.

According to the agency one-third of the 108 countries who are experiencing a malaria endemic are working hard to eradicate the disease within their borders.

Robert Newman, director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Program, told international Malaria Forum conference attendees in Seattle:

“Better diagnostic testing and surveillance has provided a clearer picture of where we are on the ground — and has shown that there are countries eliminating malaria in all endemic regions of the world.”

Eradicating malaria is important because 3.3 billion people around the world are at risk of contracting the disease while the parasite killed 781,000 people in 2009 with most victims found in Africa.

Along with hopeful progress numbers Monday’s conference revealed that seven countries have recently eliminated malaria while working to stop future cases from re-appearing.

With international funding rising from $100 million in 2003 to $1.5 billion in 2010 it looks like the fight to end malaria is moving in the right direction.

Are you surprised with the progress the World Health Organization and other agencies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have made in fighting the malaria parasite.

WHO Says One-Third Of Malaria Cases Will Be Eradicated In 10 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

The World Health Organization has risen the Pandemic alert level to 5 in response to the recent outbreak and rapid spread of the swine flu in North America and around the world. The WHO urges all countries to immediately activate their Pandemic emergency preparedness plans.

Definition of Pandemic level 5:

The definition of a Pandemic Alert Level 5, from the World Health Organization (WHO) site is:

“Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.”

WHO chief, Margaret Chan, says “it really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic.” Chan goes on to say that the swine flu pandemic is evolving extremely fast and that it’s no longer a question of “if” it will become serious, but “how” the current pandemic will affect humanity.

Swine Flu: Pandemic Alert Level 5 Issued by World Health Organization is a post from: The Inquisitr

This just in – officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a press conference today that they have raised the Swine Flu Pandemic Alert level to 4.

Swine Flu Pandemic Alert Level 4

Explanation of the Swine Flu Pandemic Alert Level 4 from the WHO official website:

Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

Also, we’re not sure why, but when you visit the page on the WHO official website listed above, look at the URL of the page in your browser’s address bar …/avian_influenza/… is in the URL instead of Swine Influenza.

Swine Flu Update: World Health Org. Issues Phase 4 Pandemic Alert is a post from: The Inquisitr

The World Health Organization (WHO) has put the world on alert and is urging countries globally to boost up their surveillance of flu-like symptoms and pneumonia. The swine flu has pandemic potential because so little is known about the disease or it’s prevention and it is spreading rapidly.

From Geneva on Saturday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said:

“It has pandemic potential because it is infecting people. However, we cannot say on the basis of currently available laboratory, epidemiological and clinical evidence whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic.”

New possible outbreaks are being investigated in Kansas (2 cases confirmed) in the U.S. and the situation in Mexico is worsening to the point where the Mexican government has empowered the health department to isolate patients and actively inspect homes of those afflicted with the disease.

New York – The immediate relatives of students at the Queens School possibly affected by the swine flu have also reported flu-like symptoms.

WHO Warns Swine Flu Outbreak Could become Worldwide Pandemic is a post from: The Inquisitr