Mali is on high alert after a baby was found to have the highly contagious, crippling polio virus, the World Health Organization said Monday, blaming low vaccination coverage.
"A case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been confirmed in Bamako," WHO said in a statement, according to AFP.
Mali authorities had detected polio in a 19-month-old child from Guinea, who was brought to Bamako for medical treatment seven days after paralysis set in on July 20, the UN health agency said.