A nation-wide anti-cholera vaccination campaign has begun in Liberia following news of an outbreak in neighbouring Guinea.

The Liberian Government has ordered the border between Guinea and Liberia to be closed, and health stations have been set up along all checkpoints, to vaccinate people in these areas.

The Government has also informed all air-lines operating in the country that passengers coming into Liberia from the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe must show health certificates carrying evidence of anti-cholera vaccination.

Health authorities have urged the population to boil water and eat properly cooked food.

The World Health Organisation reported in Geneva on Wednesday (September 2) that cholera had spread south of the Sahara for the first time in history, killing more than 60 people in a serious outbreak in the West African country of Guinea.

The W.H.O. broke its own rules to report Guinea's alleged 2,000 cases of the diseases, contradicting a denial broadcast by radio Conakry that there was any cholera at all in Guinea. The radio said later that Guinea would resign from W.H.O.

W.H.O.'s constitution forbids it to publish reports of quarantine-type cases unless it has had notification from the Government of the country concerned.

A W.H.O. spokesman said the situation was potentially serious, and there was a grave threat of cholera spreading into countries neighbouring Guinea. They intended therefore to publish everything they knew about the spreading of the disease, without waiting for notification from countries concerned.