Rotary International is committed to continue the eradication of polio campaign until the WHO declares polio is eradicated. By this it means the interruption of the transmission of polio viruses for at least three years, in the presence of certified surveillance and when all polio virus stocks have been contained.
Global position:
| WPV1 | cVDPV | |
| 2018 to 7 August 2018 |
13 | 22 |
| 2017 to 8 August 2017 | 8 | 37 |
| 2017 full year |
22 | 96 |
| 2016 full year |
37 | 5 |
| 2015 full year | 74 | 32 |
| 2014 full year | 359 | 56 |
The emphasis now is on:
- Monitoring the date of the most recent onset of paralysis and the number of weeks elapsed.
- The most recent positive environmental samples and the immunisation response.
Wild Polio virus: 13 cases in 2018
For polio-free certification purposes the start date for WPV monitoring is that of the onset of paralysis. For positive environmental samples the viral presence lasts for 7-14 days.
WPV1 - 13 cases
No WPV1 cases this week but four WPV1 positive environmental samples in Pakistan.
The most recent WPV1 cases in each country were:
- In Afghanistan – 22 June 2018 – 6 weeks since the onset of polio.
- 10 cases in 2018 vs. 5 cases at the same time in 2017. Total of 14 cases in 2017.
- In Pakistan – 18 May 2018 – 11 weeks since the onset of polio.
- 3 cases in 2018 vs. 2 cases at the same time in 2017. Total 8 cases in 2017.
- In Nigeria – 21 August 2016 – 102 weeks since the onset of polio.
- No cases in 2018. No cases in 2017. Four cases in 2016.
WPV2
- Declared eradicated September 2015. (Last case was in October 1999.)
WPV3
- No cases reported since 10 November 2012. (That was in Nigeria.)
Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus - 22 cases in 2018
The virus is genetically changed from the weakened virus contained in OPV. Details of the most recent cases in each country are:
cVDPV1 - 3 cases
-
One case reported in PNG this week. Onset of paralysis of the case was 2 July. No cases in 2017. Three cases reported in Laos in 2016.
cVDPV2 - 16 cases
- In Nigeria: 3 cases in 2018.
- Onset of paralysis on 16 June 2018 – 8 weeks ago
- In the DRC: 11 cases in 2018 vs. 22 cases in 2017.
- Most recent case – 24 June 2018 – 6 weeks since the onset of polio.
- Immunisation in neighbouring countries is being strengthened.
- In Somalia: 2 cases in 2018. No cases in 2017.
- Most recent onset of paralysis 26 May 2018 - 10 weeks ago.
- In Syria: 0 cases in 2018
- 74 cases in 2017. Arose after discovery of pockets of infection after the defeat of ISIS. There have been no cases since the outbreak last year.
- Most recent case 21 September 2017 – or 44 weeks since the onset of polio.
cVDPV3 - 3 cases
- In Somalia: 3 cases in 2018
- Onset of paralysis for the most recent case was 26 May – 10 weeks ago.
- The first cases since July 2013 when there was one in the Yemen.
Confirmation of cVDPV environmental samples in Kenya (type 2) have not isolated the virus from any AFP cases or their contacts.
Other comments (from the internet and other sources):
PESHAWAR:
As the number of polio cases dropped from 306 in 2014 to just three in 2018, it is hoped that Pakistan would soon achieve the polio-free status – at the inauguration of a round of the anti-polio campaign. The three days campaign is being carried out in 16 districts in which over 3.6 million children be vaccinated. Tributes were paid to the vaccinators for doing an outstanding job by reaching out to the targeted children despite all the challenges. Knocking out poliovirus from the country is not an easy job as the virus is communicable through human beings but the country is closer to polio eradication than it was ever before. It was also said that a 12 days measles campaign would be carried out from October 15 and 4.4 million children would be inoculated in the drive. Senior paediatricians spoke at length on the safety and efficacy of vaccines with a specific focus on polio vaccine saying that all vaccines were safe and do not cause deaths.
KARACHI:
A week-long vaccination campaign against polio started in Karachi on Monday to immunise 2.4 million children under five years of age. 12,000 polio vaccinators and volunteers are engaged in the exercise. 5,000 police personnel have been deputed to provide security cover to the workers involved in the door-to-door exercise across the metropolis.
Although no polio case has been reported from any part of the province during the current year, the vaccination exercise is being carried out in all the 24 districts of the province to strengthen the immunity of the children against the virus. A seven-day campaign is being carried out in Karachi due to its size and population while a five-day campaign is under way in other parts of the province with a target population of 6.0 million children. All sections of society are being involved to make the campaign successful.
QUETTA:
A three-day anti-polio campaign targeting more than 1.7 million children in Balochistan began on Monday. At least 6,067 mobile teams with 521 fixed and 413 transit points have been established in districts across the province to administer polio immunisation drops to children below the age of five. The security arrangements for polio teams have also been finalised in coordinate with Balochistan Frontier Corps and police. Urging parents to allow their children to be administered anti-polio vaccine, the importance of civil society, religious scholars and media’s drive to promote polio eradication was stressed. “Parents should cooperate with polio staff and administer their children with anti-polio drops which will save them from lifetime disability.” In 2018, a total of three new polio cases surfaced in Pakistan – all of which were reported from Balochistan’s Duki area.
LAKE CHAD REGION:
The introduction of an electronic surveillance (e-Surve) approach for polio is revolutionizing surveillance for the disease across the Lake Chad Basin. A smartphone application to ensure that health workers know what symptoms they should be looking for and how to report suspected cases of the vaccine-preventable disease has been introduced by the WHO. This involves the use by disease surveillance and notification officers to guide their conversations with health workers. Results are sent to a central database, where the data can be analysed and sorted by health district. A report by the GPEI says that unlike in the past when answers were written in notebooks, and time spent emailing them to a central database, with the introduction of e-Surve, answers are input directly into an app, allowing for quick, accurate, and up-to-date data collection. This has helped them receive far more accurate information in real time, making the work to defeat the polio virus more efficient. The innovation is also important in preventing outbreaks. As at May 2018, about 18,840 active surveillance visits to health facilities had been made using e-Surve technology. As a result, over 3,000 suspected cases of vaccine-preventable diseases – previously unreported from health facilities were identified and investigated.
Reg Ling
Rotary Club of Chandler's Ford and Itchen Valley.
Rotary District 1110 (Central Southern England, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar).
Rotary Region 19 (Southern England and Gibraltar) End Polio Now Coordinator.
10 August 2018
Polio is a highly infectious, crippling and potentially fatal viral disease which mainly affects young children. There is no cure, but there are effective vaccines. The strategy to eradicate polio is based on preventing infection by immunising every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free. The source of polio virus transmission is infectious humans spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis. But, less than 1 in 200 infections leads to this. Of those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.