POLIO UPDATE

What is the Polio Picture?  It's a picture of a child receiving a Trivalent Oral Polio vaccination in India.  The last case of Wild Type 2 Polio was identified in India in 1999.  Since then, all Type 2 cases have been vaccine induced.  The switch to the Bivalent (without Type 2) will eliminate the chance of vaccine induced Type 2 cases in the future.   Could 2016 be the year of the final Polio case?

 

Celebration - This past week we celebrated the 61st anniversary of the Salk Vaccine being declared safe and effective.  The Salk Oral Polio Vaccine has led to a 99.9% reduction in Polio cases worldwide!  We also celebrate Canada's announced $40 million donation to support Polio eradication in Pakistan to be paid over the next three years.

  

The Big Switch -   April 17 marks the beginning of the largest and fastest globally coordinated rollout of a vaccine into routine immunization programs in history. Between 17 April and 1 May, 155 countries and territories around the world will stop using the trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV), which protects against all three strains of wild poliovirus, and replace it with bivalent OPV (bOPV), which protects against the remaining two wild polio strains, types 1 and 3. This effort will provide better protection for children against polio, particularly those most vulnerable to infection.

 

The Final Two Endemic Countries:

 

Pakistan - One Polio case reported this week.  Eight Polio cases reported in 2016 with 54 cases recorded in 2015  The most recent case, with the onset of paralysis on 03/22/16 was from the Bannu district, Khyber Paktunkhwa.  No new Polio positive environmental samples reported this week.  Sub-National Immunization Days are planned for April 18-21 using Bivalent OPV. 

  

Afghanistan - No Polio case reported in Afghanistan this week.  Two Polio cases reported in 2016 with 20 cases recorded in 2015. The most recent case was reported on 2/01/16 from the Kunar Province. No new Polio-positive environmental samples collected this week.  Sub-National Immunization Days and are planned for April 19-22.

 

Post Endemic - Nigeria - No Polio cases reported in 2016 with 0 cases recorded in 2015.  The most recent case was reported on 7/24/14. 

Importation Countries - Ethiopia (0-2015, 1-2014), Cameroon (0-2015, 5-2014), Somalia (0-2015, 5-2014), Iraq (0-2015, 2- 2014), Syria (0-2015,1-2014), & Equatorial Guinea (0-2015, 5-2014).