By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
Last week, Ghana health officials reported a confirmed circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in an environmental sample collected from Tamale Metropolis, Northern Region.
The virus is linked to one of the circulating poliovirus loci in Kwara State, Nigeria.
There have been no associated human cases of AFP in Ghana. However, the identification of the pathogen in the environment is extremely significant as poliovirus spreads easily and across large distances. Poliovirus is slated for global eradication. Confirmation of poliovirus in an environmental sample is therefore considered as an outbreak.
Ghana reported the last poliovirus outbreak in November 2008, when a wild poliovirus type 1 was isolated from a human sample in ZabzunguTatale District, Northern Region.
The World Health Organization says the occurrence of this event in Ghana demonstrates the magnitude of the risk of poliovirus spread in the African region.
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