Update: Polio this week – As of 8 May 2013
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
[Editor’s extract and bolded text]
– Two new wild poliovirus (WPV) cases are officially reported this week, both from Nigeria, bringing the total number of WPV cases in 2013 to 26 (compared to 53 at this time last year). Additionally, a new circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case is reported in Pakistan. Please see country-specific sections below, for more information.
– The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) is meeting this week in London, United Kingdom (UK), to review the latest global polio epidemiology. The report from the meeting is expected by end-May. The agenda for the meeting and country-level presentations available here.
– Health ministers from around the world will convene in Geneva at the annual World Health Assembly (WHA), starting on 20 May. Polio eradication will also feature on the health ministers’ agenda, and to facilitate discussions, the GPEI has prepared a report for the WHA: here.

Nigeria
-Two new WPV cases were reported in the past week (WPV1s from Kano and Taraba), bringing the total number of WPV cases for 2013 to 18. The case from Kano is the most recent WPV case in the country, and had onset of paralysis on 12 April.

Pakistan
-One new cVDPV2 case was reported in the past week, bringing the total number of cVDVP2 cases in 2013 to three. It is the most recent cVDPV2 case in the country, and had onset of paralysis on 10 April (from Federally Administered Tribal Areas – FATA).
-This latest cVDPV2 case is from North Waziristan, an area where immunizations have been suspended by local leaders since last June. To minimize the risk of an outbreak in this area, it is critical that access to children is granted as quickly as possible. Immunizations in neighbouring high-risk areas are being intensified, to further boost population immunity levels in those areas and prevent further spread of this outbreak.
-Genetic sequencing has confirmed that this cVDPV2 case is linked to the ongoing outbreak previously restricted to Balochistan and parts of Karachi, resulting in 19 cases in Pakistan since middle of last year. In 2012, this strain had also spread into Afghanistan, causing 12 cases there since August.
– Pakistan is also affected by transmission of WPV1, with six cases this year (compared to 13 cases for the same period in 2012). Wild poliovirus type 3 has not been detected in the country in more than 12 months (since April 2012, from Khyber Agency, FATA).
– Confirmation of this latest cases underscores the risk ongoing polio transmission (be it due to WPV or cVDPV) in the country continues to pose to children everywhere, and in particular to children living in areas where access has not been possible for extended periods of time.
– One new positive environmental sample was confirmed this week (WPV1, collected on 10 April), from Hyderabad, Sindh. This year, 14 environmental samples positive for WPV1 have been reported, most from Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Hyderabad.
-The security situation continues to be monitored closely, in consultation with law enforcement agencies. Immunization activities continue to be implemented, in some areas staggered or postponed, depending on the security situation at the local level.