Impotence Rumours Persist in Pakistan

We have previously reported from the Ukmedix newsroom of the problem of immunising children from Polio in Pakistan after the local religious mullahs put out the rumour that the vaccine for the disease could cause erectile dysfunction in men in later life. This rumour has absolutely no foundation whatsoever but is being widely spread around the country much to the dismay of the health officials there. In all it is estimated that more than 160,000 children now have been failed to be immunised as a result and the problem could get worse if the rumours are not challenged.

The Mullahs imaginations are getting the better of them and they say that they are afraid that the American government is embarking on a campaign to make as many Muslims impotent as possible. Many parents believe the mullahs and thus are not allowing their children especially the boys to be immunised as a result. In some cases the teams of doctors administering the polio vaccine were attacked and beaten up.

The rumours are a blow to the World Health Organisation that has invested close to 200 million dollars yearly recently to stop the disease in Pakistan and shows how unfounded rumours can do a lot of harm. Only 4 countries in the world namely Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and India still suffer from Polio outbreaks but still almost 2000 people a year get it. However this is much better than the figures for the late 80’s in which it was seen that around 350,000 people suffered from polio.

Incidentally Pakistan is known to be a country where the sales of erectile dysfunction drugs flourish and especially the trade in illegally manufactured Viagra and Cialis. Ukmedix has received a number of warnings about the fact that Internet operators in the UK sell imported fake Viagra and Cialis and pass them onto unsuspecting customers for much lower prices than the originals. We have even come across a case where small blue cement pills were passed off as Viagra.