POLIO [to 13 December 2014]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

GPEI Update: Polio this week – As of 10 December 2014
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
[Editor’s Excerpt and text bolding]
Full report: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx
:: This week, donors, partners and stakeholders of the GPEI convened at the Global Polio Partners Group (PPG) meeting in Geneva to discuss the current status of the global effort and priorities for 2015 and beyond. Discussions also focused on polio legacy planning, strengthening routine immunization, the status of IPV introduction into OPV-using countries, and preparations for the trivalent to bivalent oral polio vaccine switch.
:: In the north of Madagascar, supplementary immunization activities are planned for 15 – 19 December in response to the outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1. National Immunization Days are planned for 19 – 23 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.

Selected country report content:
Afghanistan
:: One new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case was reported in the past week in Afghanistan, in Spin Boldak, a district bordering Balochistan, Pakistan, in Kandahar province, which had not previously reported a case 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 24 compared to 11 at this time last year.
:: Given the growing wild poliovirus type 1 outbreak in neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan continues to conduct supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) to limit the spread of imported polioviruses and to tackle residual endemic transmission. In addition to SIAs using oral polio vaccine (OPV) two special activities were conducted in mid-November using Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in several high risk districts of the Southern and the Eastern Regions. Subnational Immunization Days (SNIDs) are planned in high risk areas of the south and east using monovalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) on 21 – 23 December, and 11 – 13 January using bivalent OPV.
Nigeria
:: Over 4 months has passed since the last case of WPV1 was reported in Nigeria.
:: One new type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2) case was reported from Ajingi district of Kano state in the past week, with onset of paralysis on 2 November. The total number of cVDPV2 cases for 2014 in Nigeria is now 28.
Pakistan
:: Eight new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. One is from Balochistan province in Killa Abdullah district (across the border from Spin Boldak, Afghanistan); 6 are from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) (4 from Khyber Agency, 1 from South Waziristan and 1 from Frontier Region Bannu); and 1 from Nowshera district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The total number of WPV1 cases in Pakistan in 2014 is now 276, compared to 74 at this time last year. The most recent WPV1 case had onset of paralysis on 22 November, from Frontier Region Bannu, FATA.
:: Immunization activities are continuing with particular focus on known high-risk areas, in previously inaccessible areas of FATA. At exit and entry points of conflict-affected areas 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 doses of vaccine have been used in the past few months to vaccinate people passing through 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.

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Accessed 13 December 2014
Anti-Polio Worker Slain in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOOD
DEC. 9, 2014
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A pair of unidentified gunmen killed a polio vaccinator in central Pakistan on Tuesday in yet another assault on workers who are part of a government effort to curb the disease.

Pakistan is struggling to contain the spread of polio as militant violence and a chaotic political environment hobble the campaign’s progress. At least 268 new cases of polio have been reported in the country this year.

Despite the government’s repeated vows to protect health workers, the attacks continue. Taliban militants have targeted workers across the country, accusing them of being spies for Western countries.

The latest shooting took place about 9 a.m. in Faisalabad, an industrial city in Punjab Province, on the second day of a three-day national vaccination campaign.

Two men on a motorbike opened fire on a health worker, Muhammad Sarfraz, in the Peoples Colony neighborhood, officials said. Mr. Sarfraz, 40, was a schoolteacher who had volunteered for the campaign.

“The attackers shot six bullets in his body and managed to escape,” said Ali Waseem, a senior police official. A female worker with Mr. Sarfraz was unharmed.

Officials suspended the campaign in Faisalabad district.

Jundullah, a Taliban splinter group, claimed responsibility. Ahmed Marwat, a Jundullah spokesman, was quoted by local news media as saying that anti-polio workers would be targeted throughout Pakistan.

But police officials in Faisalabad speculated that the attack could have been a result of personal enmity. Mr. Sarfraz had been attacked twice this year, the officials said.

Waqar Gillani contributed reporting from Lahore, Pakistan.