Polio Makes a Comeback in Myanmar - Mass Vaccination to Target Polio Return (Report)

UNICEF/MyanmarA rare strain of the polio virus is re-emerging in Myanmar after three years, say health workers. One case was confirmed in Myanmar last December - followed by two more of unknown origin reported but not yet confirmed in January - prompting health officials to organize a mass vaccination campaign to target millions of under-five children.

A seven-month old infant was infected with vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) in December in central Myanmar's Mandalay division in Yamethin Township, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Myanmar.

"But one case is enough [to require] an emergency response," said Marinus Gotink, UNICEF's chief of health and nutrition in Myanmar.

The Department of Health has already immunized 10,000 children living in or around the area where the December polio case was diagnosed.

"But the campaign should be much bigger," Gotink said, adding that UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) were planning a mass vaccination national campaign, expected to target 3.34 million children in 109 of the country's 325 townships.

In January two more polio cases were detected but not yet lab-confirmed in Mandalay Division's Yamethin Township and Mon State's Thanbyuzayut Township.

A vaccine-derived poliovirus is a strain of poliovirus, initially contained in the live oral polio vaccine, that has changed over time; it behaves more like a wild or naturally occurring virus. This means that it can be more easily spread to others who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with an infected person. The only way to fully protect children from either the more common wild polio strain or VDPV is full vaccination, according to the WHO.

From 1997-2007, nine countries with low levels of polio immunization worldwide reported outbreaks of VDPV that resulted in fewer than 200 polio infections, according to the world health body. In the same period, 33,000 children were paralyzed by the wild poliovirus.

VDPV first appeared in central Myanmar in 2006 in Mandalay Division. The following year, four more cases were confirmed in Yangon Division, home of the economic capital, Yangon, as well as Mon and Kayin State bordering Thailand in the east and Bago Division East.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system. It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs.

Polio is a disease that is most often spread through contact with the stool (bowel movement) of an infected person. Polio germs can also be spread through food and water. The disease mainly affects children under 5 years old, but unvaccinated people of any age are at risk.

Up to 95% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms. About four to eight percent of infected persons have minor symptoms such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs which often resolves completely. Fewer than one percent of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually the legs). Of those paralyzed, 5-10% die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles.

- HUMNews Staff with Initial Report from IRIN