Highlights and global details:
One WPV1 case this week in Pakistan and one WPV1 positive environmental sample in Afghanistan. For polio-free certification purposes the start date is for onset of paralysis. In Syria though one previously-reported case has proved not to be cVDPV2.
| WPV | cVDPV | |
| 2017 to 11 July | 7 | 27 |
| 2016 to similar date | 19 | 3 |
| 2016 full year | 37 | 7 |
The most recent WPV1 cases with onset of paralysis were:
• In Pakistan - 11 June 2017 or 4 weeks since the onset of polio.
• In Afghanistan – 16 April 2017 so 12 weeks since the onset of polio.
• In Nigeria - 21 August 2016 or 46 weeks since the onset of polio.
1. WPV1 cases:
• 3 cases in Pakistan vs. 13 cases at the same time in 2016. The latest figures I have are the 3 cases were confirmed from 3,883 specimens of infant acute flaccid paralysis and with another 469 specimens awaiting test. This is another aspect of how donations to polio eradication are used.
• 4 cases in Afghanistan vs. 6 cases at the same time in 2016.
• No cases in Nigeria. There were no cases in 2015 but cases were identified in 2016 as a result of new initiatives in the northern States where Boko Haram had made access difficult. No new cases since August 2016.
• No other cases though there is much immunisation activity now in the Lake Chad countries following the Nigerian cases in August 2016. From 25 to 28 March, synchronised polio campaigns took place across 13 countries in west and central Africa including Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali and Niger. Over 190,000 vaccinators immunised more than 116 million children over the campaigns.
The total number of WPV1 positive environmental samples collected in 2017 is 60.
The most recent sample was collected on 10 June. (The environmental presence of viral particles lasts for 7-14 days.)
2. WPV2 cases:
• Declared eradicated September 2015. (Last case was in October 1999.)
3. WPV3 cases:
• No cases reported since 10 November 2012. (That was in Nigeria.)
For cVDPV, the corresponding positions for onset of paralysis are:
• cVDPV2 23 cases now in Syria. (No WPV1 case reported there since 21 January 2014.)
• cVDPV2 4 cases in DRC - 18 April 2017.
• cVDPV2 cases in Pakistan - 17 December 2016.
• cVDPV2 cases in Nigeria - 28 October 2016.
• cVDPV1 cases In Laos - 11 January 2016.
1. cVDPV1 cases:
• Three cases reported in Laos in 2016. In 2015 there were ten cases in Madagascar, eight cases in the Lao Republic and two cases in the Ukraine.
2. cVDPV2 cases:
• In 2017 three separate outbreaks have occurred, two in the DRC and one in Syria. Four cases in total in DRC and the most recent had outbreak of paralysis was 18 April. The Syrian tally is currently 24 (2 this week) and the latest had onset of paralysis on 28 May. Confirmation of these latest cases was not unexpected and does not change the operational situation. All the Syrian cases had onset of paralysis between 3 March and 28 May.
The source of polio virus transmission is infectious humans but only 1 in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Of those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised.
Other comments (from the internet and other sources):
Nothing that I would care to share this week.
13 July 2017
Reg Ling
Rotary Club of Chandler's Ford and Itchen Valley.
Rotary District 1110 (Central Southern England and the Channel Islands).
Rotary Zone 18A (Southern England and Gibraltar) End Polio Now Coordinator (EPNC).
Rotary Zone 18A (Southern England and Gibraltar) End Polio Now Coordinator (EPNC).