Massive international effort stops polio epidemic across 10 West and Central African countries

... Public health experts have confirmed that a polio epidemic in ten countries in west and central Africa - Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d''Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Togo - has been successfully stopped. The epidemic has paralysed nearly 200 children for life since mid-2003, but no new cases have been reported in these countries since early June. At the same time, polio eradication efforts are intensifying in Nigeria, where extensive disease transmission continues, as part of a mass polio campaign across 28 African countries beginning today. ...