| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Michael Gray" |
| Date: |
29 Nov 2005 05:38:09 PM |
| Object: |
Polio still at Large, thanks to another virus: Religion |
From New Scientist, 19 November 2005.
"RELIGIOUS intransigence is still thwarting efforts to eradicate the
crippling disease polio.
Ten west African countries are once again polio-free, after a campaign
against vaccination by some Muslim clerics in Nigeria in 2003 led to
outbreaks that spread as far as Indonesia. Six African countries plus
Yemen and Indonesia are still affected. The World Health Organization
says it will not be gone from Africa even by mid-2006.
Meanwhile, another polio-free country, the US, has seen the virus
surface in a religious community that rejects vaccination. An Amish
child in Minnesota was infected while in hospital for an immune
deficiency, and passed the infection to three other Amish children.
None has fallen ill.
The virus was derived from a strain in live polio vaccine. It has not
been used in the US since 2000, but can be incubated by people with
impaired immunity, posing a threat to unvaccinated people."
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18825263.900
http://tinyurl.com/75gru
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