By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Pakistan

Pakistan reported three additional wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases this past week–one from Sindh province and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This brings the total WPV1 cases in the country to 94, about eight times the cases reported in all of 2018 (12).

In addition, nine WPV1 positive environmental samples and nine cVDPV2 positive environmental samples were recorded  from several provinces.

Tragically on Monday, a female polio worker was killed and the driver of the tri-wheeler she was travelling in injured after unknown assailants fired at the vehicle in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. The assailants escaped from the scene.

The Philippines

The Philippines reported additional circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases since our last report. The Philippines is affected by both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2. To date, nine circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 cases have been reported, all from Mindanao (BARMM and Region XII), while one circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 was reported from Maluso, Basilan.

A cVDPV1 case in Sabah State, Malaysia was confirmed to be genetically linked to the Basilan case by the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) in Australia. Since the two viruses are genetically linked they are both classified as circulating.

A new VDPV1 case from Sultan Kudarat (Region XII) was confirmed on 6 December 2019 and is pending further genetic analysis.

Dozens of cVDPV1 and 2 have been reported in environmental samples from the Maila and Davao areas.

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Angola

Angola reported an additional 12 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2)–four from Benguela province, one each from Cuanza Sul, Bie, Luanda, Bengo, Uige and Huambo provinces and two from Moxico province.

This brings the total cases to 71 from seven outbreaks reported in 2019.

Also in Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia reported three and two cVDPV2 cases, respectively.

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, in 2019 to date, 117 WPV1 cases and 216 cVDPV cases have been reported from countries in Africa and Asia.