Africa News Broadcast 
Health authorities in Mozambique declared an outbreak of wild poliovirus on May 18, 2022 after confirming that a child in the north-eastern Tete province had contracted the disease. This marks the second imported case of wild poliovirus in southern Africa this year, following an outbreak in Malawi in mid-February 2022, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said in a press release.
The lone case so far, is the country’s first since 1992. Genomic sequencing analysis indicates that the newly confirmed case is linked to a strain that was circulating in Pakistan in 2019, similar to the case reported in Malawi, WHO noted.
Polio is transmitted mainly via contaminated water and food, or through contact with an infected person. The virus can cause paralysis, and is sometimes fatal.
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