NewsDesk @bactiman63

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has reported circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type
2 (cVDPV2) cases in Kenya and Tanzania recently.

Kenya

Image/Robert Herriman

Two cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were confirmed on 28 June 2023 in Hagadera Refugee Camp, Fafi Sub-county, Garissa County. The cases were detected and confirmed as part of routine Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance activities ongoing across the country.

The first case is a 34-month-old male with onset of paralysis on 26 May 2023, while the second case, who has a recent history of travel to Somalia, is a 19-monthold female with onset of paralysis on 27 May 2023. Both cases are residents of the Hagadera Refugee Camp in Kenya.

Genetic sequencing confirms the isolated cVDPV2s are linked to cVDPV2s currently circulating in Banadir, Somalia.

The last reported case of cVDPV2 in Kenya was in January 2021. The country remains wild poliovirus free since it reported its last indigenous wild polio cases in 2013.

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Tanzania

Tanzania/CIA

Tanzania has reported its first case of cVDPV2 since 2000, in a 22-month-old female child with acute flaccid paralysis. The case is from Rukwa region, Southwestern Tanzania.

Genomic sequencing analysis showed that the virus isolate had undergone 15 nucleotide changes and is
genetically related to cVDPV2 circulating in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lake Tanganyika, which forms a border between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is located west of the Rukwa Region, indicating possible cross-border infection in the area.