Number of poliomyelitis case declined by more than 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 in more than 125 endemic countries to 37 cases notified in 2017. Venezuela had been one of the countries where polio had been eradicated for several decades. But it seems that the disease has reappeared in this country hit by the crisis and by a chronic shortage of drugs.
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the case of polio was declared in a malnourished child who was not vaccinated and lived in an extremely poor region of Venezuela. However, the health authorities waited almost a month before reporting the return of the disease while international health regulations require that the declaration be made within 24 hours.
Venezuela, devastated by economic and political crises, is also facing an upsurge in measles cases (85% of cases reported in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past year have been in Venezuela).
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