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Polio Vaccine Causes Outbreak In Nigeria

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By MARIA CHENG, The Associated Press

Published: October 6, 2007

LONDON - A polio outbreak in Nigeria was caused by the vaccine designed to stop it, international health officials say, leaving at least 69 children paralyzed.

It is a frightening paradox in a part of the world that already distrusts Western vaccines, making it even tougher to stamp out diseases.

The outbreak was caused by the live polio virus that is used in vaccines given orally - the preferred method in developing countries because it is cheaper and doesn't require medical training to dispense.

'This vaccine is the most effective tool we have against the virus, but it's like fighting fire with fire,' said Olen Kew, a virologist at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts say such outbreaks only happen when too few children are vaccinated. In northern Nigeria, only about 39 percent of children are fully protected against polio.

The oral polio vaccine contains a weakened version of polio virus. Children who have been vaccinated excrete the virus, and in unsanitary conditions it can end up in the water supply, spreading to unvaccinated children. In rare instances, as the virus passes through unimmunized children, it can mutate into a form that is dangerous enough to spark new outbreaks.

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