| Polio has spread to two more African countries where it had been eradicated, Guinea and Mali, highlighting the risk of a major outbreak across west and central Africa, international campaigners said. One case was confirmed in Guinea and two in Mali, the first in both countries since 1999, while three new cases were also detected in the Darfur region of west Sudan, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. "The ongoing polio outbreak, which originated in northern Nigeria, continues to infect new countries, underscoring the threat of a major epidemic," the group, which includes the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a statement. An international drive to wipe out the paralyzing disease, which afflicts mainly children under five, has been hit by opposition to immunization in parts of northern Nigeria, where Muslim elders feared the vaccine could spread the killer HIV virus and cause infertility. |