Nigeria state resumes polio drive

Ten previously polio-free African countries have been reinfected

The northern Nigerian state of Kano has confirmed that it will resume polio vaccinations without delay.

The immunisation programme was suspended last August following fears from Muslim scholars that the vaccines were contaminated.

Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau said health officials were now satisfied that a new batch of vaccines from Indonesia was safe.

Nigeria now accounts for over three-quarters of all new polio cases.

Warning

"Our government has accepted the report from the experts. We are satisfied with the report and have directed the commencement of the polio vaccination in the state," Governor Shekarau told reporters on Thursday.

Kano withdrew from the polio campaign last year following reports spread by Islamic clerics that the vaccines were contaminated as part of a US plot to render Muslim women infertile.

But the governor confirmed that consignments of the Indonesian vaccine were now in the country and that the inoculation programme would begin as soon as was logistically possible.

According to the BBC's Yusuf Sarki Mohammed in Kano, there are no co-ordinated figures but so far well over 200 polio cases have been reported since the suspension 11 months ago compared to less than 50 cases for the same period last year.

Polio, which mainly affects children under five, is caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis or death.

Meanwhile, 10 previously polio-free African countries have been reinfected.

The Word Health Organisation recently warned that the region was facing an epidemic and last month announced an emergency vaccination campaign of 74m children across Africa in an effort to put back on track its goal to eradicate polio worldwide by 2005.