Polio this week

Headlines

  • 24-30 April marks World Immunization Week, an opportunity to highlight vaccines as one of humanity’s greatest achievements, saving millions of lives every year. This year, World Immunization Week will celebrate 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) – a collaborative initiative aimed at ensuring universal access to life-saving vaccines for everyone, everywhere. EPI served as an inspiration for Rotary International to launch PolioPlus in 1985, which led to the founding of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative three years later. The GPEI continues to work with its partners around the world to help strengthen immunization systems everywhere. To mark EPI’s 50th anniversary, WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are collectively launching ‘Humanly Possible’, a global campaign to mark the profound achievements of EPI, and to call on leaders to prioritize investments in immunization. A dedicated campaign website, with key data, messages and calls to action went live on 24 April.
  • As the global community commemorates World Immunization Week, Dr Hamid Jafari, Director, Polio Eradication, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region takes the opportunity to share what humanity can achieve when we come together and take action for our collective health. Read more…
  • Co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, PATH, and the United Nations Foundation, an event titled Advancing Sustainable Development through Strategic Health Investments was held in Washington, DC last week, on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring meetings. The session provided an important opportunity to discuss linkages between strategic investments in childhood immunization and polio eradication efforts, exploring how through these continued investments we can build a more resilient and prosperous world for generations to come.

Summary of new poliovirus this week

  • Afghanistan: 10 WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Pakistan: two WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Angola: one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
  • Nigeria: two cVDPV2 cases
  • Somalia: one cVDPV2 case
  • South Sudan: three cVDPV2 cases
  • Yemen: one cVDPV2 case and eight positive environmental samples
  • Zimbabwe: one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample

Country updates as of 24 April 2024

  • No WPV1 cases were reported this week. There are two cases reported this year. The total number of cases in 2023 remains six.
  • 10 WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported; five in Kandahar and one each in Uruzgan, Paktya, Hilmand, Laghman and Nangarhar.
  • No WPV1 cases were reported this week. There are two cases reported this year while the number of 2023 cases remains six.
  • Two WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported; one each in Balochistan and Sindh.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There were three cases reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases have been reported since February 2020.
  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported in Lunda Norte.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There are 3 cases reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains three.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There was one case reported in 2023 and one in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • In August 2022, cVDPV2 was isolated from two environmental samples from a large wastewater treatment plant and a target site in the city of Montreal, Quebec. This was after the country conducted retrospective analysis of wastewater samples. Genetic sequencing confirmed linkage to the cVDPV2 case from New York, USA.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There have been 14 cases reported in 2023 and six cases in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There is one case reported this year and 55 cases reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There are 6 cases reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • There are no polio cases reported in the country.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.  
  • No cVDPV1 case was reported this week. There is one case reported this year and 106 cases in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains 117.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • There are no polio cases reported in the country.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There was one case reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There was one case reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There were three cases reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There is one case in 2024. The number of 2023 cases remain 47.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. The total number of 2023 cases remain 6.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There has been one cVDPV2 case reported last year.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There have been eight cases reported last year.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No virus was reported this week.  The total number of cVDPV1 cases for 2023 remains 24.
  • No cVDPV1 cases were reported this week. There were four cases reported in the country in 2022.
  • No WPV1 cases were reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There have been 15 cases reported in 2023 and one in 2024.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There was one case reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • No cVDPV1 case was reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains four.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There was one case reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There were two cases reported in 2023.
  • Two cVDPV2 cases were reported this week; one each in Kano and Katsina bringing the number of 2024 cases to 10. There are 87 cases reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • The last cVDPV2 case in the country was in October 2021.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • One cVDPV2 case was reported in Bay making it the second one this year. There are eight cases reported in 2023.
  • Three cVDPV2 cases were reported; one each in Upper Nile, Western Equatoria and Jonglei bringing the number of cases this year to four. There are three cases reported last year.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There was one case reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. The total number of cases for 2023 remains two.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • In May 2022, six positive samples were reported following the isolation of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) from environmental samples in London, UK. No cases of paralysis associated with this strain have been detected – virus has been isolated only from environmental (sewage) samples.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. One case was reported in New York in September 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 positive environmental samples were reported this week. There were 30 positive samples reported in 2022.
  • One cVDPV2 case was reported in Alhudaidah making it the second case this year. There are eight cases reported in 2023.
  • Eight cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported; four each in Alhudaidah and Sanaa City.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There was one case reported last year.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There is one case reported in 2023.
  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported in Harare.

For more country information, please visit the respective pages within the Outbreak and Endemic country sections of the GPEI website.