At our last meeting, Foundation committee member PP Meryl provided members with an update on the latest Polio figures before we heard from Polio sufferer, Gillian Thomas. As of November 10th, there 29 Wild Polio Cases in the world compared to 6 at the same time last year:
2 in Afghanistan
20 in Pakistan
7 in Mozambique, Africa.
Africa had been declared was declared Polio free about 20 years ago, and it technically still is, but these cases were genetically derived from cases in Pakistan. These cases are concerning when we consider that there was a 22 year old male in New York who contracted Polio in a community that had a low Polio vaccination rate and polio has also been identified in the sewerage systems in London and in Jerusalem as well. According to the Regional Polio expert, Dr Murray Versoe, the reason is increased travel since the Covid lockdowns.