Posted on 06/28/2004 6:05:15 PM PDT by wagglebee
Thanks to Muslim clerics in Nigeria, polio is once again spreading through the African continent.
Polio — a very debilitating but equally preventable neuromuscular disease — was never completely eradicated from the globe (only smallpox has this distinction).
But officials from the World Health Organization say they could have nearly wiped polio off the map by the end of 2005. However, according to reports, Muslim clerics in the Nigerian state of Kano and elsewhere in the northern part of the country convinced government officials to stop providing vaccines months ago.
The clerics said the vaccines made in the West were tainted, containing anti-fertility drugs designed to depopulate the area.
Voice of America news reported, "An activist from a human rights group based in northern Nigeria, Nasir Abbas, says local Islamic leaders like Alhaji Datti Ahmed of the Supreme Council on Sharia continue to play a large role in influencing policies in Kano State."
Local, anti-Western Muslims allowed children contract polio rather than allow the government to provide the medicine to prevent it, no matter the source.
And, by waiting for a vaccine to be tested and found "safe" in Indonesia, that's just what happened.
The World Health Organization says the Nigerians' stoppage of the immunization program has caused a resurgence of polio cases all across Africa, from nearby Ivory Coast to Botswana in southern Africa.
More specifically, the group says 90 percent of the new cases have been traced to a strain of polio found to have originated in Nigeria.
The Washington Post continues: "Nigeria, where the current upsurge began, now has five times as many cases of polio as it did this time last year, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva said. New cases have been found in 30 of its 37 states, with most in the Muslim north . . ."
"Right when it should have been disappearing during the low season, this virus was gathering steam to come roaring out," R. Bruce Aylward, global coordinator of the eradication campaign at WHO, said in a telephone briefing.
WHO aims to vaccinate all 74 million African children under the age of 5, at a cost of $100 million.
There were no figures provided for what it will cost to take care of the African children who have recently contracted polio because of Muslim clerics' continuing disdain for the West.
ssshhh! Let Malthus do his work.
There is no vaccine for stupidity.
They'll just go ahead and catch polio, that'll show us!
There is a vaccine for islamofacism though . . . about 2000 degrees farenheit will melt the stupidity right out of them.
The problem is, when Malthus is through, it will invariably wind up costing America several billion dollars.
You mean he's not done yet? Negative population growth rates, famine, AIDS, genocide....and I'm just talking about the highlights! The less interaction we have with Africa the better.
Money well spent. help the natives with the clean up, and all
Hence, we should just keep quiet and let certain 'natural' processes take their course.
I think you mean 1.5M deg C.
Whatever it takes to burn the unreasonableness out of them.
Not until the Muslim clerics get religion.
Otherwise, polio will start spreading throughout the world again, starting in DC, NY, LA and Miami.
Leni
What was the result of the outbreak? From what I understood, it seldom kills and often does not even cripple. That makes it hard to get people to take it seriously.
I had polio as a 4 yo. So did another near relative. No problem except a mild limp when I'm tired. I was 13 or so when the vaccine came out...There are probably a lot of us in our fifties-sixties that had mild cases.
Can someone point out one single good thing Islam has done in the past, uh, three hundred years? One?
The clerics said the vaccines made in the West were tainted, containing anti-fertility drugs designed to depopulate the area.
Well I imagine the polio epidemic will have the same result. But at least they did not have to get help from the infidel!
It is not like the "east" makes vaccines or helps other Muslims. How can they afford it, with only Oil as an income source. Since the oil in Arabia is under pressure, can you imagine how hard it is to turn a valve on to earn a days wages?
Mit der Dummheit, kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Are you having a problem with "post polio"?
I feel slightly guilty agreeing with you. But only slightly.
If the idiots want to condemn their nation to a horrifying disease because of the paranoid rantings of brain-dead fanatics, why should we argue with them?
My father contracted polio as a 9 year old in the 40s.
It left him with a withered left leg, which he coped with manfully through most of his life. However the orthopaedic knock on effects have now rendered him quite severely disabled - he will likely be wheelchair-bound within the year.
Nasty disease and a damn shame eradication could not have been completed.
"...drugs designed to depopulate the area."
If only we could figure out a way to depopulate the entire world of those subhumans. Ah, perchance to dream...
When I'm tired, I limp. I'm not always aware of it, but other people are...some off and on leg pain, but I do a lot of walking on the job, what with 12 hour shifts, and basically have no problems.
12 hour shifts & lots of walking will make anyone tired. I have a friend who is suffering the effects of post polio & hers are quite severe. I am glad you are doing so well.
I remember the polio scares of the 40's & 50's. I can't remember how they thought polio was contracted, I just remember I wasn't allowed to go to the public pool.
Neither were we allowed to go to the public pool, but I got it anyway. I have one large muscle in one leg that started getting numb off and on, about 15 years ago, now it's numb all the time, but at least it still works. Paradoxically, it hurts. The longer I work, the worse it hurts.
As far as the limp goes, as I said, I'm not aware of it, but due to the foot drop, I've stumbled and broken three toes on that foot at separate times when walking barefoot in the house or yard. Now, I always wear shoes/slippers. The differing wear on the shoes tells the tale...
My cousin's limping is worse, and he has some atrophy, but it hasn't slowed him down yet.
Others have it much worse than I do...sorry I mentioned it. I didn't mean to complain.
You weren't complaining,just answering my nosey questions. Thanks. ;9)
It's rare I meet anyone else who's had it. I don't go to online discussion groups about it, or anything, don't feel I need any help with it.
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