The news concerning worldwide polio has been quiet during the first several weeks of 2016; however, the first wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) were reported this week by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Image/CIA
Image/CIA

Pakistan reported the first wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) of 2016 with onset of paralysis in Karachi Gadap, Sindh on 17 January 2016. The total number of WPV1 cases in Pakistan for 2016 is now 1, compared to 7 reported for 2015 at this point last year.

In Afghanistan, an additional WPV1 case was reported this past week with onset of paralysis in Shahwalikot, Kandahar, on 20 December 2015. That brings Afghanistan’s WPV total for last year to 20.

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic saw seven cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) in 2015, the first indigenous cases reported in Laos since 1993.

This week, the GPEI reports two new cases of cVDPV1 were reported in the past week, in Phonhong and Fueng, Vientiane, with onset of paralysis on 8 January and 11 January 2016 respectively.

Related: 

Image/CIA
Image/CIA