The polio outbreak that struck the Horn of Africa affected 217 people in the three countries and now there are reports of an additional case of wild poliovirus 1 (WPV-1) in Somalia, the 6th case (5 in Somalia and one in Ethiopia) in the outbreak region in 2014.
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This is the first case to be found in the Hobyo district of Mudug province.
Activities are being initiated to address the spread of WPV-1 in Somalia, with an increased focus on accessing pastoral communities, using satellite imagery for micro-planning.
In addition, Pakistan saw a surge in polio cases during the previous week, which are due to a backlog in the laboratory. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
21 new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. Of these, 17 are from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) (2 from North Waziristan, 4 from South Waziristan and 11 from Khyber agency) and 4 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (1 from Tank (the first case from this district for 2014), 2 from Bannu, and 1 from Lakki Marwat). This brings the total number of polio cases in 2014 to 138 compared to 28 in 2013 by this date.
