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Ghana: Two polio cases recorded in Ashanti Region | GhanaWeb.

[19 February 2020]

Two cases of polio have been recorded in the Ashanti Region as at the second week of February this year.

Health Authorities are currently assessing the risk factors for management.

“Ghana was doing well with no polio outbreaks but we have started recording some new cases which we are not taking lightly so we are starting the Inactivated Polio Mass Vaccination to help curb further outbreaks in the country,” Ashanti Regional Health Director, Dr Emmanuel Tinkorang noted.

He explained that the nationwide Inactivated Polio Vaccination which starts on Wednesday is to help reduce an outbreak of polio.

About 446,874 children born between 2016 and March 2018 are expected to be given the injectable vaccine for the one week exercise.

The Regional Health Director said the oral vaccination for the Type 2 Polio is ineffective hence the introduction of the injectable.

He asked mothers to avail their children for the vaccination.

“Fortunately in Ghana mothers have always welcomed vaccination but we have started an awareness campaign on the change from the oral to injectable vaccination so we are encouraging all mothers to avail their children born between 2016 and March 2018 for the exercise.

The Inactivated Polio vaccination starts from 19 to February 25.

Infographic: Greater Horn of Africa Region: Humanitarian Snapshot (February 2020) | OCHA via ReliefWeb.

[18 Feb 2020]

• Download infographic (PDF | 1.97 MB)

Philippines: CHD pushes Cebu City-wide anti-polio vaccination | CDN Digital.

[February 19,2020]

City Health Officer Daisy Villa. | CDND File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Health Department (CHD) is proposing a mass vaccination here to protect its around 30, 000 children aged 10-years-old and below from poliovirus infection.

“We cannot just look into the areas near the Butuanon River, we have to conduct a city-wide vaccination for children,” said Dr. Daisy Villa, the City Health Officer.

But before they could even start with the planned mass vaccination, Villa said there was a need for City Hall to set aside funds for the purchase of the needed vaccines.

Villa said that she is now in the process of determining how much it will cost the city government to vaccinate the around 30, 000 children who are in need of protection from the deadly poliovirus.

Read: Butuanon River in Mandaue tested positive for poliovirus — DOH

So far, Villa said that the anti-polio vaccine that they now have is only enough to vaccinate children coming from the 1, 000 families who live along the Butuanon River in Cebu City’s side.

Villa said that they cannot also ask for vaccines from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) since their existing supply has already been set aside for Butuanon River residents on Mandaue City’s side.

“We cannot wait for the stocks, we have to purchase our own,” she said.

Read: Mandaue launches mass vaccination for polio dose defaulters

The Mandaue City Health Office already started on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, its door to door anti-polio vaccination campaign especially in barangays that are located along the Butuanon River.

Villa said they also plan to do the same as soon as they already have enough anti-polio vaccine supply.

For now, they will just have to complete the survey which they started two weeks ago to check on the health condition of residents along the Butuanon River and to determine if any of them has manifested symptoms of poliovirus infection.

The CHD survey will focus on 16 barangays that are located along the Butuanon River and its tributaries. This include Barangays Guadalupe, Pulang Bato, Busay, Budlaan, and Pit-os among others.

Read: Residents in riverside communities in Mandaue City worried over polio-contaminated Butuanon River

As of Wednesday, Villa said they have not received information on the presence of poliovirus cases in the city.

Villa said that around three percent of the city’s close to 1 million population are children aged 10-years-old and below who are in need of protection from the poliovirus infection.

She admitted that the Dengvaxia scare in 2019 contributed to the drop in poliovirus vaccination among the city’s children.

But they are addressing the concern this year with the planned implementation of the mass anti-polio vaccination.

“We urge the parents to vaccinate their children before they suffer from the poliovirus,” said Villa. / dcb

Nigeria: Polio: Zamfara vaccinates 1.9m children | Daily Trust.

[Feb 19, 2020]

Shehu Umar writes:

Zamfara state government is to vaccinate 1.9 million children that are under five years as part of the 2020 first phase of Immunization Plus Days Campaign in the state.

The immunization campaign started on 15th and ended on 18th of February as  there were no  reports of  Wild Polio Virus WPV in the State since June 2012,  officials say.

The Campaign, which was led by the State Deputy Governor Barrister Mahdi Aliyu Gusau was flagged-off in Mayanchi district of Maru Local Government Area.

Speaking while flagging off the exercise Barrister Mahadi Aliyu, who is also the Chairman, State Task Force Committee on Polio Eradication, said the present administration would  commit sufficient human and material resources required to further motivate state and local councils’  staff and the communities to end polio.

The Deputy Governor said the state was focusing on the people living in the rural areas and the vulnerable population with emphasis on children from birth to 11 months of age in collaboration with partners to ensure they are reached.

The Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad Kanoma said the state was preparedto receive the African Regional Certification Committee, on behalf of the North-Western zone signifying the total interruption of polio virus.

He enjoined the local government council chairmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, care givers and various unions to lend their support to the final onslaught against polio.

In his message Maru Local Government Council chairman Alhaji Salisu Isah Dangulbi said his council had made adequate arrangements to ensure that every child was immunized during the campaign.

Jang, Geo Group’s Polio Versus Pakistan campaign: Famous people hit by polio during their lifetime | The News International

[February 19, 2020] Sabir Shah writes:

LAHORE: As Pakistan continues to struggle against the wild poliovirus and the life-long disability it causes, country's largest media house, the "Jang Group and Geo Television Network" has now entered the fray with a zeal to spread awareness about the very high frequency of the disease in this part of the world, its prevention and cure.

Here follows a few vital historic facts about polio:

On February 18, 2020 (Tuesday), the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, had visited a kindergarten school in Lahore during the first nationwide polio campaign of the year and vaccinated three students with the polio vaccine. More than 39 million children across the country are set to be vaccinated during the February campaign.

There are currently 265,000 frontline workers who go door to door during campaigns to ensure that as many Pakistani children as possible are vaccinated against polio. Almost 62 per cent of these workers are female.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), during 2019, Pakistan was confronted with a resurgence of polio beyond traditional strongholds of the virus. There are 17 cases thus far in 2020.

Currently, only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain endemic and have sadly reported Polio cases. August, 21, 2019 had marked a major milestone in the history of Nigeria, as the country had reached three years without reporting a case of poliovirus.

But those affected by polio can gain inspiration from many famous people who became victims of polio during their lives. These include former four-time American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who contracted polio in 1921 at the age of 39 and used a wheelchair thereafter, though he attempted to hide his paralysis during public appearances), Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's Information wizard and father of modern propaganda Dr Joseph Goebbels, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (known for being the mastermind behind iconic movies such as ‘The Godfather’), great Indian cricketer Bhagwat Chandrashekhar and globally-acknowledged Australian publisher, cricket organiser and business leader, Kerry Packer.

Also called Poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, polio has been plaguing the world since a really long time. Although the disease doesn't have fatal consequences, it physically handicaps a person, preventing him/her from leading a normal life.

According to Rotary International, a global service organisation having a footprint in over 200 countries and territories, it has till date helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries.

It says that in 1998, there were more than 350,000 cases of polio annually in 125 countries around the world. Rotary asserts that today, due to its efforts and unending struggle of its partners and world governments, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent.

In 1894, the first major documented polio outbreak in the United States had occurred in Vermont; 18 deaths and 132 cases of permanent paralysis were reported. In 1905, Swedish physician Ivar Wickman had suggested that polio was a contagious disease that could spread from person to person, and also recognised that polio could be present in people who showed no symptoms otherwise.

In 1908, two physicians in Vienna, Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper, had discovered that polio was caused by a virus. By 1910, polio became the world's most feared disease as frequent epidemics became regular events throughout the developed world, primarily in cities, during the summer months. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio used to paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year.

In 1916, there were over 27,000 cases and more than 6,000 deaths due to polio in the United States, with over 2,000 deaths in New York City alone.

In 1955, a vaccine developed by Dr Jonas Edward Salk was declared "safe and effective". Salk (1914-1995), an American medical researcher and virologist, had developed this vaccine just three years after the 1952 American epidemic, the worst outbreak in the nation's history, had killed 3,145 people. There were over 58,000 polio cases reported that year. To be precise, some 21,269 people were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of its victims being children.

When news of the vaccine's success was made public on April 12, 1955, Salk was hailed as a "miracle worker" and the day almost became a national holiday.

Salk claimed that his sole focus had been to develop a safe and effective vaccine as rapidly as possible, with no interest in personal profit, and credited this attitude with the fact that there is no patent for the vaccine.

Jonas Salk's last years were spent searching for a vaccine for HIV/AIDS.

(References: Encyclopedia Britannica, the New York Times and the US Food and Drug Administration)

In 1960, the American government had licenses the oral polio vaccine developed by Dr Albert Sabin.

In 1979, Rotary International began its fight against polio with a multi-year project to immunize six million children in the Philippines.

In 1994, the International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication had announced that polio had been eliminated from the America.

In 1999, health workers and volunteers had immunized 165 million children in China and India in just one week.

In 2000, a record 550 million children - almost 10 per cent of the world's population - had received the oral polio vaccine. The Western Pacific region, spanning from Australia to China, was declared polio-free.

By 2003, only six countries - Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan - were polio-endemic. In 2006, the number of polio-endemic countries had dropped to just 4 - Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

By 2009, Rotary's overall contribution to eradication effort had touched $800 million. In January 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had pledged $355 million and issued Rotary a challenge grant of $200 million.

By 2011, Rotary International's funding for polio eradication had exceeded $1 billion. The requirements for 2013-2019 were projected to be approximately US$ 4.2 billion. In November 2019, donor governments and philanthropists had pledged $2.6 billion to help fund a worldwide polio eradication plan though.

Pakistan: Anti-polio campaign | The News International.

[February 19, 2020]

LAHORE Expresses resolve to make anti-polio drive successful On the second day of the anti-polio campaign in Punjab, a special ceremony was held at 90-Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam on Tuesday with Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar as the chief guest who also administered the polio vaccine to the children.

While expressing his sheer determination to make the anti-polio campaign a success, Usman Buzdar said the nation would get rid of the decease with joint efforts. “It is my message that everyone should play their role in the success of this campaign,” he added.

During the ongoing anti-polio campaign, a target of administering the vaccine to two crore children has been set and the government will achieve this goal,” he said. In order to protect the future of our nation from disability, the campaign should be moved ahead as a united drive as those nations moved forward and made progress which developed and promoted healthy societies.

The chief minister directed that field teams should ensure that no child was left without administering the polio vaccine. “We have to win the war against polio at any cost,” he vowed.

“Saving innocent children from polio is our joint responsibility as it is our national duty,” he said. Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Provincial Minister for Housing Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Adviser on Health Haneef Pitafi, Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Muhammad Usman and other officers concerned were also present.

Pakistan: Polio worker injured by youngsters in Takht Vichora village | DAWN.

[February 19, 2020]

MIANWALI: A polio worker was allegedly beaten by three people at Takht Vichora village situated in the hilly area of Khatak belt in the Kalabagh police jurisdiction.

Mohammad Ijaz Khan, naib qasid of the Govt High School of Tabisar, was deputed to administer polio drops to children in the area during the ongoing polio campaign. When he went to Islam Khan’s home at Takht Vichora village, reports said, the old man told him that veil-observing women weer [sic] at home and children and other members were out of home and that he should come some other time.

Meanwhile, some youngsters came out of the neighbouring house and thrashed the polio worker by blaming him for arguing with an old man. Ijaz Khan reported to the Kalabagh police that armed men Tariq and Anwar Sadat, along with another person, thrashed him and inflicted injuries on him.

SHO Mohammad Amjad told Dawn that this was the first time such an incident with any polio team member had taken place. He said police were investigating.

UNICEF-WHO Philippines: Polio Outbreak Situation Report #16 (19 February 2020) | World Health Organization, UN Children's Fund via ReliefWeb.

[Published on 19 Feb 2020]

Highlights.

• On 15 February, DOH confirmed a new cVDPV2 case, a one-year-old boy from Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, bringing the total number of polio cases in the country to 17.

• Currently, there are 14 cases of cVDPV2, one case with cVDPV1; one case with VDPV1; and one case with immunodeficiency related VDPV type 2 (iVDPV2).

• DOH also reported that an environmental sample collected from Butuanon River, Cebu tested positive for the poliovirus as confirmed by the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine.

• The first Poliovirus Outbreak Response Assessment (OBRA) was held from 8-14 February. The team visited NCR, Mindanao and Davao City.

• Third mOPV2 round started in Mindanao on 20 January targeting 3,102,973 children under 5. In the first 14 days of the campaign, 3,061,732 children under 5 were vaccinated (98.7%).

• First mOPV2 round in NCR started on 27 January targeting 1,404,517 children under 5. A total of 1,386,5731 children under 5 were vaccinated (98.7%). The second round is planned for 24 February-8 March 2020.

• Philippines is affected by both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2. cVDPV is considered a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

Somalia Weekly Polio Update: Week 6, 2020 | World Health Organization, UN Children's Fund via ReliefWeb.

[Published on 19 Feb 2020]

• Two new circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were isolated this week from an environmental surveillance (ES) site in Mogadishu. The samples were collected on 19 January. This brings the total number of cVDPV2 isolated from ES in 2019 and 2020 to eight.

• No new cases of children with cVDPV2 were reported this week. The date of onset of the most recent case of cVDPV2 in a child with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) was 8 May 2019. A total of three cVDPV2 cases were reported in Somalia in 2019.

• No new circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3 (cVDPV3) - positive cases or environmental samples were identified in 2019 or 2020 to date. The date of onset of the most recent case of cVDPV3 in a child with AFP was 7 September 2018.

Operational and Outbreak Coordination.

• The cVDPV2-positive environmental samples collected in December 2019 and January 2020 reflect undetected virus transmission, indicating gaps in surveillance and population immunity likely stemming from areas where the population is inaccessible to the polio programme’s surveillance and immunization activities.

• A targeted mOPV2 response is currently being designed in response to these recent virus isolations. Given that mOPV2 has not been used since late 2018 in the south and central regions, there will be a number of susceptible children who were born since the last case response activities and remain unvaccinated. The polio programme aims to implement the first round of mOPV2 in selected areas in March, depending on the arrival of vaccine into the country.

• Priorities for outbreak response in view of the new epidemiology include further strengthening surveillance and conducting active case search, including in hard-to-access areas, identifying population groups susceptible to harboring the virus, monitoring population movement and continuing efforts to gain access to security-compromised areas with vaccine.

The effect of early measles vaccination on morbidity and growth: A randomised trial from Guinea-Bissau | Vaccine.

[Pay to View Full Text] [Received 6 November 2018, Revised 25 January 2020, Accepted 31 January 2020, Available online 13 February 2020] [In Press, Corrected Proof]

Highlights.

* There was no effect of early measles vaccine (MV) on morbidity and growth.

* Oral polio vaccine (OPV) campaigns were associated with lower consultation rates.

* The effect of MV may have been modified by OPV campaign exposure after enrolment.

Abstract.

[Dramatic achievements in infectious disease prevention and treatment in China during the past 70 years] | Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi | PubMed.

[Article in Chinese; Abstract available in Chinese from the publisher] [2019 Dec 10;40(12):1493-1498]

Abstract.

At the beginning of the founding of People's Republic of China, infectious diseases, such as smallpox, plague, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, measles, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, mumps, schistosomiasis, Kala Azar, hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis, encephalitis B, typhus, malaria, Kala Azar, leprosy, scarlet fever and pinkeye, remained as epidemic in the country and endangered people's health. During the past 70 years, the Chinese government spent huge efforts in infectious disease prevention and treatment by promulgating and implementing series of relative policies, laws and strategies, and also encouraged all Chinese people to participate in. The achievements of these efforts in controlling infectious disease epidemic were extremely successful. Today, the outbreaks and epidemic of infectious diseases in China were rarely happened with the rapid decreases in incidence and mortality rates of all notifiable infectious diseases. Smallpox was eradicated, and polio, filariasis, leprosy and neonatal tetanus were nearly eradicated. In addition, the incidence rates of vaccine-preventable diseases, i.e. measles, diphtheria, pertussis, meningitis, encephalitis B, hepatitis A, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, were dramatically decreased and remained at relatively low levels for years. The incidence and prevalence rates of hepatitis B infection in Children decreased significantly and reached the phase objectives. Moreover, incidence rates of natural iatrogenic infectious diseases, i.e. diarrhea, typhoid and other intestinal infectious diseases, leptospirosis and schistosomiasis, and vectorborne diseases, i.e. typhus, malaria, Kala Azar, reached the lowest and some even closed to be eliminated in China. In general, infectious diseases dropped to the tenth from the top one leading cause of all deaths, which means that the achievement of Chinese infectious disease prevention and treatment strategies contributed tremendously in improving Chinese people's health status and life expectancy.

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