By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Global wild poliovirus total

Officially this week, the global total wild poliovirus (WPV1) cases are double what they were in 2018.

Image/CDC-/ Meredith Boyter Newlove, M.S., James Archer, M.S.

One case was reported this week in Afghanistan, bringing the total to 66 in 2019 to date. In all of 2018, 33 WPV1 cases were reported from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The one case this week  was reported from Chora district, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, bringing that country’s total to 13 this year. Pakistan has recorded 53 cases year to date.

Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus

This week saw circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus 2 cases from Angola and Ghana.

One case was reported from Amboim district, Kwanza Sul State, Angola, bringing the case tally to six cVDPV2 cases from three outbreaks reported in 2019.

In Ghana, one cVDPV2 case was reported in the past week from Chereponi district, Northern province. This is the first cVDPV2 case in 2019.

To date, 51 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases have been reported from nine African and Asian countries in 2019.

Nigeria’s major milestone

This week marked the three year anniversary of no WPV1 cases reported in Nigeria, a major milestone.

Nigeria passing the three-year benchmark without a single wild polio virus case is a step forward to certifying the entire African region wild poliovirus-free.

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“Since the last outbreak of wild polio in 2016 in the northeast, Nigeria has strengthened supplementary immunization activities and routine immunization, implemented innovative strategies to vaccinate hard-to-reach children and improved acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and environmental surveillance. These efforts are all highly commendable”, said the World Health Organization Officer in Charge (OIC) for Nigeria, Dr Peter Clement.

High routine immunization coverage and quality surveillance remain most critical in the build up towards certification and post certification. “As long as polio virus still exists in any part of the world (as it currently does in Afghanistan and Pakistan), all children are at risk, therefore we must maintain the momentum towards regional and global certification,” stated Dr Clement.