A boy has died from polio in Papua New Guinea in the first fatal case since an outbreak of the disease in June.

The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the boy died in Enga province, one of 14 confirmed cases across the country .

Speaking at the launch of a nationwide polio vaccination campaign on Monday, the WHO representative in the country, Luo Dapeng, said that there had been five confirmed cases in Eastern Highlands province, three in Morobe, two in Enga, two in Madang, one in Port Moresby and one in Jiwaka, the Papua New Guinea Post Courier website said.

The country’s health department said the child died when the muscles around their lungs became paralysed by the virus, Radio NZ said.

One of the other 14 victims died in September but he was also infected with meningitis and tuberculosis and his death was not attributed to polio.

The country was declared polio-free in 2000 but the rate of vaccinations has been falling in recent years and an outbreak was confirmed earlier this year.

The virus, which mainly affects children, causes paralysis of varying degrees of seriousness. It spreads through faecal-oral contamination, multiplies in the intestines, and then to the nervous system. There is no cure for the disease, which can only be combatted by vaccinations in childhood.

The virus is present in only three other countries: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.







