Polio this week - GPEI
Polio this week

Headlines 

  • The WHO African Region has published an update on polio eradication progress and challenges throughout quarter 1, 2025.
  • Papua New Guinea recently launched a nationwide immunization campaign to protect nearly 3 million children against polio. While no cases of paralysis have been reported, detections of variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) have been confirmed through environmental and community surveillance. More.
  • This piece in Al Jazeera highlights the critical importance of women in outbreak response in Nigeria. It was written by United Nations Foundation press fellow Hanan Zaffar. UNF’s Polio Press Fellowship supports journalists to travel to polio-affected areas to report on eradication efforts and broader health impacts.

Summary of new polioviruses this week, cases and positive environmental isolates:

  • Pakistan: one WPV1 case
  • Ethiopia: six cVDPV2 cases
  • Israel: three cVDPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Nigeria: one cVDPV2 case
  • Yemen: 46 cVDPV2 cases
Country updates as of 13 August 2025

More information on the countries that have reported cases and/or environmental samples this week.

  • One WPV1 case was reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing the number of cases this year to 19. The number of cases for 2024 remains 74.
  • No WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

  • Six cVDPV2 cases were reported this week; four from Oromiya, one from Somali, and one from Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Region (SNNP). This brings the number of cases reported in 2025 to 40. The number of cases from 2024 remains 44.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

  • Three cVDPV1-positive environmental samples were reported; two from Center and one from Jerusalem.

  • One cVDPV2 case was reported from Sokoto, bringing the number of cases reported this year to 23. The number of cases from 2024 remains 98.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

  • Forty-six cVDPV2 cases were reported this week from 10 governorates. 42 of these cases are from 2024 and 4 from 2025. This brings the number of cases for 2024 to 149 and 16 for 2025. Testing of stool samples for polio from Yemen continues to be hampered by conflict-related transport disruptions and laboratory backlogs.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.