Imported polio virus leaves 1 infant dead in Xinjiang

One of the nine infants in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region diagnosed with polio, a disease that can cause irreversible paralysis, has died of the disease, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday. The other eight infants are still receiving treatment but are out of danger, said Deng Haihua, a ministry spokesperson. The nine patients were all from Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture, Deng said, adding that the disease has not been found in other parts of the country. The MOH has reported the cases to the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the WHO has confirmed that the virus came from Pakistan. The center said the WHO confirmed this after gene sequencing showed that the virus had a 99 percent resemblance to the wild poliovirus that caused an outbreak in Pakistan in 2009. The MOH has sent three teams of experts, headed by Health Minister Chen Zhu and Chen's deputy, Yin Li, to Xinjiang to inspect the situation, Deng said. The ministry also dispatched 90 experts from other parts of China to assist in disease prevention tactics in Xinjiang, including active search and immunization, he said. "Through strengthened immunization in key areas, a barrier will be established to block the transmission of the poliovirus," Deng said. The government of Xinjiang decided to conduct two rounds of immunizations for susceptible groups on Sept. 8-12 and Oct. 8-12. "As long as there is poliovirus prevalent in the world, countries eradicating the virus are still in danger," Deng said. Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a viral disease of the brain and spinal cord that mainly affects children under five years of age. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, usually in the legs. Xinjiang neighbors Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, three of the four polio-endemic countries in the world. Before the Hotan outbreak, China had been polio-free for 11 years.