By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report this week, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation said that preliminary results from the investigations of children manifesting weakness of the limbs, referred to as ‘Acute Flaccid Paralysis’ (AFP) have led to the isolation of poliovirus type 2 from three cases of AFP in Kambia, Tonkolili and Western Area Rural respectively.

Image/CIA

Further advanced investigations of the isolated samples are underway at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg, South Africa for verification of the initial results, determine their source and origin, to determine if they are the cause of the paralysis in the three identified children, and to assess if they pose any public health threat, as required by the World Health Organization.

“Further laboratory investigations are going on to determine the type of poliovirus we might be dealing with. However, active case finding for any potential AFP cases in the country is continuing, and additional surveillance measures and community actions are ongoing” says Prof. Alpha T. Wurie, Minister of Health and Sanitation.

Sierra Leone continues to strengthen its routine immunization levels and disease surveillance, in order to minimize the risk and consequences of any potential polio re-introduction or re-emergence. Sierra Leone has not reported any confirmed polio case since 2010.

Elsewhere, Afghanistan reported 54 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases in the past week, bringing the total to 214 this year.

The cases were reported from Farah, Khost, Hilmand, Kabul, Kunar, Kunduz, Logar, Paktika, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Wardak and Zabul.

Several additional cVDPV2 cases were reported in a number of African nations.