Polio cases in 2008 have nearly doubled in Nigeria as officials struggle to fight an outbreak set off by the polio vaccine itself three years ago. The West African nation is fighting off various natural strains of the virus and outbreaks linked to the vaccine.
However, Nigeria has a very low immunization rate to fight the crippling disease because of its weak health system. Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease that is highly contagious and spreads easily from human-to-human contact. In endemic areas, wild polioviruses can infect virtually the entire human population
