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Brazzaville (AFP) Nov 9, 2010 A polio epidemic in southern Congo has killed 78 people since early October authorities said Tuesday, more than a decade after the disease was considered to have been eradicated here. The World Health Organisation (WHO) partly attributed the outbreak in the central African country which has not registered a case since 2000 to Congo's poor health and hygiene infrastructure. "We have counted 78 deaths since yesterday (Monday)," a member of a special crisis committee told AFP. While Congo's director-general of health, Alexis Elira Dokekias, would not comment on the death toll, he said more than 180 polio cases had been registered across the country. Congolese authorities were to launch a country-wide vaccination programme on Friday against the virus. "What is important is not to mention the numbers of deaths. But up to this point we have registered nearly 183 cases," Dokekias told AFP. The majority of cases, or 175, are located in the coastal town of Pointe Noire, he said, with eight other cases scattered around the country including three in capital Brazzaville. After an absence of a decade, polio now appears to have returned with a vengeance, with the the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also confirming the reappearance of type 1 polio -- one of three types of the virus. "We are facing a very virulent, potentially mortal virus. We are about to launch a vast (vaccination) campaign to reach the entire Congolese population," Dokekias said. "Arrangements have been made for the campaign to begin in Pointe Noire as of Friday," he said, adding preliminary research suggested the polio had been imported. The majority of Congolese who have contracted the virus to date are between 15 and 40 years who either did not receive enough immunization or none at all, Dokekias said. Normally polio primarily affects children. The health director urged Congolese not to panic and to wait to be vaccinated by health authorities rather than requesting unsuitable vaccines from pharmacies. Dokekias denied polio's reappearance in Congo was due to lack of surveillance, noting the disease has broken out elsewhere over the past decade, notably in Namibia, Cape Verde and Albania. Neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola are also experiencing outbreaks, WHO said last month. Polio has spread again in recent years with cases imported from some of the four endemic nations in Asia and Africa, mainly Nigeria, in a setback to global attempts to eradicate the crippling and sometimes lethal disease.
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