WHO EUROPE: MISSION SENT TO ISRAEL FOLLOWING DETECTION OF WILD POLIOVIRUS IN SEWAGE

Sunday, 7th of July 2013

WHO EUROPE: MISSION SENT TO ISRAEL FOLLOWING DETECTION OF WILD POLIOVIRUS IN SEWAGE

1 July 2013

As requested by Israeli health authorities, a team of international poliomyelitis (polio) experts, coordinated by WHO, completed a five-day mission to Israel on 26 June 2013. The team assessed the risks and recommended action following the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (wPV1) in sewage in the Southern District of the country. No cases of paralytic polio have been detected.

Following the mission, a supplementary immunization campaign with oral polio vaccine is planned, even though Israel continues to maintain high vaccination coverage and polio immunity in the population. The decision to launch the campaign reflects both the estimated extent of circulation of the virus and the Israeli authorities commitment to interrupt transmission as rapidly as possible.
The virus was originally isolated from sewage samples collected in Beersheva in February 2013. Since then it has been isolated in further samples from different locations, most recently in early June. Genetic sequencing and epidemiological investigations have established that it is of the South Asian genotype and not related to the virus currently affecting the Horn of Africa. WHO experts are working with scientists from Israels national polio laboratory to gain further understanding of the origins of the virus...

...Israel has been free of indigenous wPV transmission for 25 years, the last cases of paralytic polio having occurred in 1988. At that time the authorities launched a mass vaccination campaign immunizing the population aged 0-40 years with oral polio vaccine.

http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/communicable-diseases/poliomyelitis/news/news/2013/07/who-sends-mission-to-israel-following-detection-of-wild-poliovirus-in-sewage