Afghanistan, one of the three remaining polio endemic countries on the planet, has reported it’s first case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) of the year in Hilmand province.
In 2014, Afghanistan reported 28 WPV1 cases in 2014 with the many cases being linked to cross-border transmission with neighboring Pakistan.
In Pakistan, two additional WPV1 cases were reported during the past week, bringing the country’s total to nine for 2015. One case was reported in Khyber district in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the other in Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
These 10 case account for all the cases reported in 2015.
The third polio endemic country, Nigeria, has not reported a new WPV1 case since last July.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) also reports it has been six months since the most recent case of wild poliovirus on the African continent had onset of paralysis, in Somalia on 11 August. Twelve months of absence of wild poliovirus, with certification-quality surveillance, will be necessary for the Horn of Africa outbreak to be declared as closed
