Polio this week

Headlines

  • Polio survivor and eradication advocate, Paul Alexander has passed away at the age of 78, after living in an iron lung for over 70 years. Paul contracted polio in 1952 when he was six and the disease left him unable to breathe independently leading to his placement in an iron lung. Despite his physical constraints, Paul obtained a law degree, wrote a memoir, and was a strong advocate for polio eradication.
  • On the 8th of March, the polio programme marked International Women’s Day through various activities honoring the passion and courage of all the women who have committed their lives to ending polio. Here are some highlights of the day:
    • In this piece, female polio trailblazers share their stories on how they are driving change at every level.
    • The Female Mobiliser Vaccinator (FMV) programme supported by UNICEF and partners continues to play a critical role in efforts to reach every child and end polio in the country. Read more
    • Amal Jama, a coordinator for the polio response in Sudan shared an important message about why women must share and collaborate with each other.
  • Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) will launch a polio vaccination campaign in April 2024 in response to a new emergence of variant poliovirus type 2 reported in January 2024. It was detected in six wastewater samples collected from September 2023 to January 2024 in the Port Sudan locality, Red Sea State. Read more

Summary of new poliovirus this week

  • Angola: one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
  • Côte d’Ivoire: four cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
  • Mali: one cVDPV2 case
  • Nigeria: one cVDPV2 case
  • Sierra Leone: one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
  • Yemen: three cVDPV2 cases

Country updates as of 13 March 2024

  • No WPV1 cases were reported this week. The total number of cases in 2023 remains six.
  • No WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No WPV1 viruses were reported this week.  The total number of WPV1 cases in 2023 remains six.
  • No WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There were three cases reported in 2022.
  • No cVDPV2 cases have been reported since February 2020.
  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported in Luanda.
  • 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. There have been two cases reported in 2023.
  • 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 cases were reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains 55.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. There are 6 cases reported in 2023.
  • Four cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported; two in Abidjan 1 and one each in Abidjan 2 and Haut-Sassandra.
  • There are no polio cases reported in the country.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.  
  • No cVDPV1 cases were reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains 105.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. The number of 2023 cases remains 118.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was 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. The number of 2023 cases remain 47.
  • 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.
  • One cVDPV2 case was reported in Bamako bringing the total number of cVDPV2 cases in 2023 to 16.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There has been 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.
  • One cVDPV2 case was reported in Sokoto making it the fourth cases in 2024. There 87 cases reported in 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week.
  • The last cVDPV2 case in the country was in October 2021.
  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported in the Western Area making it the first positive environmental sample in the country this year and since 2021.
  • No cVDPV2 cases were reported this week. There are eight cases from 2023.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.
  • No cVDPV2 case was reported this week. The number of cases for 2023 remains two.
  • 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. There are two cases reported in 2023.
  • 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.
  • Three cVDPV2 cases were reported; one each in Albaidah, Alhudaidah and Ibb bringing the number of 2023 case to seven.
  • 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.
  • No cVDPV2-positive environmental samples were reported this week.

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