Polio afflicts child in myanmar, vaccinations underway

Myanmar is stepping up its polio vaccinations after the crippling virus emerged for the first time in more than three years, infecting an infant, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. A seven-month-old girl caught a rare strain of polio that can spread when some people in a community are immunized with oral polio vaccine (OPV) and others are not, WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer said. She had not been vaccinated against the disease. “On very rare occasions, when replicating in the human gut, OPV strains genetically change and may spread in communities that are not fully vaccinated, especially in areas where there is poor hygiene, poor sanitation or overcrowding,” he said. There are no other known cases of paralysis from the strain in Myanmar, which was found in December, according to the WHO. More than 10,000 children have been immunized in response to the discovery and more vaccinations are planned. “It seems to have...