WHO says polio detected in Malawi in setback to eradication

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The World Health Organization said authorities in Malawi have detected a case of polio in the southern African country’s capital, another setback in continuing efforts to eradicate the highly infectious paralytic disease globally. In a statement on Friday, the U.N. health agency said officials had identified wild poliovirus disease in a young child in Lilongwe, the first time the wild virus has been detected on the African continent in five years. WHO said lab tests showed the polio virus found in Malawi is connected to the strain that has been spreading in Pakistan’s Sindh province, where the disease remains entrenched.