Update: Polio this week – As of 18 December 2013
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
Full report: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx

[Editor’s extract and bolded text]
As the year 2013 draws to a close, the GPEI takes stock:
:: In Afghanistan, no indigenous cases of wild poliovirus have occurred all year – all cases are linked to cross-border transmission with neighbouring Pakistan.
:: In Nigeria, poliovirus is increasingly geographically restricted – primarily to Kanod and Borno states. Over the past 4 months, only four cases have occurred in the country, despite the onset of the rainy season (the “high season” for polio transmission).
:: The Horn of Africa outbreak is on the decline, including in Banadir, Somalia, the “engine” of the outbreak (no cases since July).
:: A cross-regional emergency approach is being implemented in the Middle East.
:: In Pakistan, the main reservoir area is Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), in particular North Waziristan.  During the ‘high season’ in the past four months, 52 cases of wild poliovirus have been reported from FATA, with evidence of widespread geographic transmission across the country.  Areas within Pakistan are being re-infected, as is neighbouring Afghanistan, and the outbreak in the Middle East originated in Pakistan.
:: The overriding operational priority for the GPEI is to ensure all children are reached during supplementary immunization activities during the 2014 ‘low season’ for polio transmission.

Pakistan
:: One new WPV1 case was reported in the past week from North Waziristan, FATA. The total number of WPV1 cases for Pakistan in 2013 is now 75. The most recent WPV1 case had onset of paralysis on 26 November (from North Waziristan, FATA).
:: North Waziristan is the area with the largest number of children being paralyzed by poliovirus in Pakistan. Immunization activities have been suspended by local leaders since June 2012. It is critical that children in all areas are vaccinated and protected from poliovirus. 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.