By Prensa Latina,
Luanda : Angola will begin on May 16 a national anti-polio vaccination campaign that will benefit seven million children up to five years, said Health Director Vita Vemba.
The authorities chose an early start because of six cases detected this year, including four harboring a strain of a virus endemic in Tapradesh, India, that also affects adults.
Health Vice Minister Jose Van-Dunem says the germ does not leave sequels among adults but turns them into transmitters, so the campaign will target the mild and wild strains, namely the latter.
Poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis transmits by contact with infected phases, water and food.
Once in the body, the virus spreads through the blood stream and affects muscles, lungs, kidneys, and heart to such devastating scale that leads to paralysis and/or death.