India's Anti-Polio Drive Hit by False Cancer Scare Reports

According to this article, rumours and false reports are keeping parents from vaccinating their children for polio in India. In Uttar Pradesh, health workers were turned away from homes after an Urdu-language newspaper reported that the oral polio drops caused cancer.

According to a senior government official at the provincial health directorate, the rumours and false reports were published to create confusion and are having a negative effect on the polio eradication campaign in India. In 2006, 522 polio cases were reported, compared to 66 cases in 2005, and parts of India that were previously polio free are beginning to see a resurgence of the disease as it spreads from Uttar Pradesh.