By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), two positive circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) environmental samples were reported from Manila in the National Capital Region. They were collected on 23 September 2019.

Image/DaGreen99 via pixabay

On 19 September 2019, an outbreak of polio was declared in the Philippines. Two human polio cases (VPDV2) were reported in the Philippines last month in a three-year-old girl from Lanao del Sur and a five-year-old boy from Laguna.

The last known case of wild poliovirus recorded in the Philippines was in 1993. The country was declared wild polio-free in 2000.

According to GPEI, Vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) are rare strains of poliovirus that have genetically mutated from the strain contained in the oral polio vaccine. The oral polio vaccine contains a live, attenuated(weakened) vaccine-virus. When a child is vaccinated,the weakened vaccine-virus replicates in the intestine and enters into the bloodstream, triggering a protective immune response in the child. Like wild poliovirus, the child excretes the vaccine-virus for a period of six to eight weeks. Importantly, as it is excreted, some of the vaccine-virus may no longer be the same as the original vaccine-virus as it has genetically altered during replication. This is called a VDPV.

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