POLIO [to 6 December 2014]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

GPEI Update: Polio this week – As of 3 December 2014
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
[Editor’s Excerpt and text bolding]
Full report: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
:: In the north of Madagascar, supplementary immunization activities are planned for December in response to the outbreak of circulating vaccine derived poliovirus. National Immunization Days are planned for January. The aim is to boost immunity across the country against all strains of poliovirus using trivalent oral polio vaccine.
:: For the first time ever, only 1 case of wild poliovirus has been reported in Africa in the last 4 months. The case had onset of paralysis on 11 August in Somalia.
Afghanistan
:: Two new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week in Afghanistan, 1 in Behsud district (previously uninfected in 2014) of Nangarhar province and 1 in Qalat district of Zabul province (previously uninfected in 2014). The most recent case had onset of paralysis on 5 November in Kandahar district.
:: The total number of WPV1 cases for 2014 in Afghanistan is now 23 compared to 11 at this time last year.
:: Given the growing outbreak in neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan continues to conduct supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) to limit the spread of imported polioviruses. Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) are planned in high risk areas of the south and east using bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) on 7 – 9 and 21 – 23 December.
Pakistan
:: Eight new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. Two are from Balochistan province (1 in Killa Abdullah district and 1 in Killa Saifulah district, which has not previously been infected in 2014); 5 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province (2 from Peshawar district, 2 from Tank district and 1 from Swat district, which has not reported cases so far in 2014); and 1 from Shikarpur in Sindh province, which has also not reported cases so far in 2014. The total number of WPV1 cases in Pakistan in 2014 is now 268, compared to 70 at this time last year. The most recent WPV1 case had onset of paralysis on 16 November, from Peshawar, KP.
:: Immunization activities are continuing with particular focus on known high-risk areas, in particular newly opened previously inaccessible areas of FATA. At exit and entry points of conflict-affected areas that are still inaccessible during polio campaigns, 100 permanent vaccination points are being used to reach internally displaced families as they move in and out of the inaccessible area. Over 1 million people have been vaccinated in the past few months at transit points and in host communities, including over 850,000 children under 10 years old. –
West Africa
:: The Ebola crisis in western Africa is impacting on the implementation or polio eradication activities in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Supplementary immunization activities in these countries have been postponed and the quality of acute flaccid paralysis surveillance has markedly decreased this year.
:: Even as polio programme staff across West Africa support efforts to control the Ebola outbreak affecting the region, efforts are being made in those countries not affected by Ebola to vaccinate children against polio.