World Polio Day: A disease all but eradicated

Rotarians around the world will be involved with World Polio Day today, October 24.

The Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication (GCC) is  today expected to declare wild poliovirus 3 (WPV3) as globally eradicated.

From a global perspective, polio appears to be in a state of limbo. Vaccination wiped the disease out from the Western Hemisphere over a generation ago and it has since receded from memory across most of the world.

Ken Vorster of the Dundee Rotary Club noted polio is only found in northern Nigeria and the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Vaccination wiped it out from the Western hemisphere over a generation ago and it has receded from memory across most of the world.  Even in its last boltholes in Northern Nigeria and the mountain border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, polio only paralyses a small number of people each year.

 The summary of new virus cases reported and environmental samples collected last week is:

• Pakistan — two WPV1-positive environmental samples

• The Philippines— two cVDPV1-positive environmental samples.

It is now the low transmission season for the polio virus but constant surveillance and continued immunisations must continue. The WHO considers there is a risk of further spread of cVDPV2 across West Africa and the Lake Chad region. Meanwhile, the polio numbers for 2019 are unchanged since last week:

• 88 WPV1 cases (72 in Pakistan with 53 cases in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province).
• 95 cVDPV cases (89 cVDPV2 and 6 cVDPV1). 
  • In 2018 to the same time there were 19 WPV1 and 61 cVDPV reported cases.
  • In the year 2018 there were 33 WPV1 and 105 cVDPV cases and, because of confirmation lead times, some were not reported until early in 2019.

However, despite a 99,9 per cent reduction in the number of cases, children everywhere are still at risk from polio.

“By supporting your local Rotary Club, you are continuing to support the ongoing fight against polio,”  explained Mr Vorster.

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