POLIO WEEKLY UPDATE

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POLIO WEEKLY UPDATE

When environmental sampling picks up polio in Peshawar that was not detected by AFP surveillance, this is not reassuring.

Also available, with tables, at http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx

Afghanistan 

• No new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) have been reported in the past week. The most recent case had onset of paralysis in Gulestan district of Farah province on 5 May. The total number of WPV1 cases for 2015 remains 2, and 28 for 2014. Most of the cases from 2014 were linked with cross-border transmission from neighbouring Pakistan.
• Environmental sampling in the country continues to find wild poliovirus (most recently in Hilmand). Such sampling is invaluable to improved surveillance for the virus.
• Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) are planned from 14 – 16 June across the south and east using bivalent OPV. National Immunization Days are scheduled on 16 to 18 August.

Nigeria

• No new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. No cases have been reported in 2015. Nigerian total WPV1 case count for 2014 remains 6. The most recent case had onset of paralysis on 24 July in Sumaila Local Government Area (LGA), southern Kano state.
• No new type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) cases were reported this week. No cases have been reported in 2015. The most recent case had onset of paralysis on 16 November in Barde Local Governmental Area of Yobe state. The total number of cVDPV2 cases for 2014 in Nigeria remains 30.
• Environmental sampling continues to compliment surveillance, with cVDPV2 circulation last detected in March in Kaduna and Sokoto.
• Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) are planned on 7 – 9 June and 25 - 28 July in the north and east of the country.

Pakistan

• One new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was reported this week in North Waziristan district in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. This most recent case had onset of paralysis on 6 May. The total number of WPV1 cases for 2015 is now 24 (and remains 306 for 2014).
• No new type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) cases were reported in the past week. No cases have been reported in 2015. The number of cVDPV cases reported in 2014 remains 22. The most recent case had onset of paralysis on 13 December.
• One new environmental sample positive for WPV1 was reported this week from Peshawar district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• Environmental surveillance indicates widespread circulation of polioviruses – WPV as well as VDPV – not just in known infected areas but also in areas without cases. Environmental surveillance is proving to be an instrumental supplemental surveillance tool enabling a clearer epidemiological picture.
• Currently, the focus of the polio eradication programme in Pakistan is on known infected areas and on areas deemed to be high-risk but which have not reported polio cases. 

Central Africa

• No new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the last week. No cases have been reported in 2015. In 2014, 10 cases were reported in central Africa: 5 in Cameroon and 5 in Equatorial Guinea. Over ten months have passed since the last WPV1 case had onset of paralysis in central Africa (in Cameroon, onset of paralysis on 9 July).
• National Immunization Days (NIDs) are underway in the Central African Republic (CAR) that will be staggered between now and August. NIDs will also take place in June in Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. In July, NIDs will take place in Angola and Congo with Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) in CAR.  

Horn of Africa

• No wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases have been reported in the last week. No cases have been reported in 2015. The total number of WPV1 cases that were reported in the Horn of Africa in 2014 was 6: 1 in Ethiopia (date of onset of paralysis on 5 January) and 5 in Somalia. The most recent case, which had onset of paralysis on 11 August 2014, was from Hobyo district of Mudug province, central Somalia.
• No cases of type 2 circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) have been reported in the last week. No cases have been reported in 2015. In 2014, 2 cases were reported in South Sudan. The most recent case of cVDPV2 had onset of paralysis in South Sudan on 12 September.
• Subnational Immunization Days are planned in June in Ethiopia and in August in Somalia with dates to be confirmed.

Middle East

• No new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases have been reported in the last week. No cases have been reported in 2015. Three cases of WPV1 were reported in the Middle East in 2014 - 2 in Iraq and 1 in Syria.
• The most recent case reported from Syria had onset of paralysis on 21 January 2014, while the most recent case in Iraq had onset of paralysis in Madain district, Baghdad-Resafa province, on 7 April 2014.
• It has been over a year since the onset of paralysis of the most recent case of wild poliovirus in the Middle East. Phase III of the Middle East outbreak response is continuing to further strengthen vaccination services for vulnerable populations and to strengthen surveillance for polioviruses across the region.

West Africa

• No wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases have been reported in the past week. The most recent WPV1 case in the region occurred in Tahoua province, Niger, with onset of paralysis on 15 November 2012.
• Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) are underway in Niger from 1 – 4 June. National Immunization Days (NIDs) are planned in Liberia on 26 to 29 June and in Sierra Leone on 5 – 10 June and again on 3 – 6 July.