With the reports of three additional wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Afghanistan, bringing the total global cases to 25, it has eclipsed the total WPV1 cases for all of 2017 (22).

Poliovirus Image/CDC
Poliovirus Image/CDC

The three new cases have been reported from Maywand district, Kandahar province, from Pornus district, Nuristan province, and from Nawzad district, Hilmand province. This brings the total cases reported in Afghanistan to 19 (Pakistan has reported 6 cases this year).

The third polio endemic country, Nigeria, has not reported any WPV1 cases in more than two years.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) says:

Nominal variations (up or down) in the number of newly-reported cases at this point of the polio endgame – although tragic for the affected children and their families – are not operationally overwhelming, especially considering the population size in the 3 remaining endemic countries (upwards of 90 million children aged less than five years).  However, confirmation of even a single polio case anywhere points to remaining vaccination coverage gaps which must be filled, to achieve eradication.

Concerning circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases, Papua New Guinea reported three new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1), bringing their total to 21.

The Democratic Republic of Congo saw one new case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). The total cases in DRC is now 16.

Finally, Nigeria reported two new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), bringing their total in 2018 to 19.