| I thought polio vaccinations were all an infidel plot? |
Saudi Arabia has taken all precautions to prevent the polio virus from entering the country following the outbreak of a major epidemic in neighboring Yemen. "We are aware of the situation in Yemen and have taken all the necessary precautions to prevent the virus from crossing into our borders especially the southern regions closer to Yemen," said Dr. Khaled Merghalani, director general of health awareness and media at the Ministry of Health. "We have launched a major awareness and immunization campaign and we have not reported any new cases since last December," Dr. Merghalani told Arab News. "The worry has always been locally transmitted cases and there are none here; the three cases reported last year were imported," he explained.The latest case reported in Saudi Arabia by the World Health Organization involved a Nigerian boy who had been living near Makkah. He fell ill in mid-December 2004 after the family hosted visitors from Nigeria. Senior WHO officials at the time played down the possible long-term impact of the three cases because of "impeccable" Saudi sanitary precautions for the Haj, and high levels of vaccination coverage in Saudi Arabia &0151; 95 percent &0151; which were regularly maintained. The polio outbreak in Yemen could cripple more than 100 children before it is brought under control, WHO said yesterday. A Yemeni Health Ministry official said in Sanaa on Monday the number of children diagnosed with the paralyzing disease had risen to 40, nearly double the initial 22 cases the WHO confirmed in late April.