Polio Outbreak Hits China (NEWS BRIEF)

(HN, September 21, 2011) An outbreak of polio has been confirmed in China for the first time since 1999. So far the outbreak has left one person dead and nine others hospitalized, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Among the ten cases confirmed, six are children under three years old and four are young adults.  

Polio is a contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death, broke out in the prefectures of Hotan and Bazhou in China’s western Xinjiang province.

The WHO said evidence indicates the virus is genetically linked to polio cases currently circulating in Pakistan, which borders Xinjiang. Pakistan has been affected by the nationwide transmission of the same WPV1 strain. The WHO has warned that the virus could spread beyond the current affected area.

According to China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ministry of Health has dispatched a group of public health experts to the affected region to help treat the virus.

It said the local government had launched a mass vaccination campaign starting in early September. WHO confirmed initial vaccination campaigns carried out by mid-September had reached over 3.5 million children -- children being particularly vulnerable to polio.

Pakistan

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011, supplementary immunization activities (SIA’s) in Pakistan have been inadequate in key high-risk areas. In security- compromised parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), upwards of 200,000 children have been regularly missed during SIAs conducted during the last two years. In addition to reaching children in insecure areas, significant operational challenges continue to be a problem affecting the quality of SIAs in accessible areas and in other key transmission areas of the country.

At the same time undetected circulation cannot be ruled out due to persistent sub-national surveillance gaps. Given these factors the spread of Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) internationally, the WHO rates as ‘high’ the risk of further international spread of WPV from Pakistan.

To urgently address the widespread transmission of wild poliovirus affecting the country, the Government of Pakistan has this year launched a National Polio Emergency Action Plan. However, the impact of the Plan is not yet being seen at the critical programme implementation level.

To rapidly build up population immunity levels  staggered sub -national immunization days are planned from September 19-21, to be closely followed by further activities in high-risk union councils in 54 districts of the country.

The WHO says, the  key to success will be to overcome remaining operational challenges in fully-accessible areas and implemented special outreach strategies with full community participation to increase access to populations in security-compromised areas. To achieve this, full and consistent engagement and accountability at provincial, district and union-council level is urgently needed.

India and Saudi Arabia

With the detection of polio in China, after a gap of ten years, the Health Ministry in India has put on high alert various border states in the country, asking them to put up polio booths. The states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar, and Bihar have been asked to administer polio drops to all children entering India from any of the neighboring countries.

Punjab, which has an open border with Pakistan, has already set up polio vaccination booths at the Wagah border and the Attari railway station, for administering polio drops to all children entering India from Pakistan, Punjab’s Health Secretary Satish Chandra told the Press Trust of India (PTI) .

Polio drops would be administered to will be administered to all children up to five years of age who enter the country via train, road or on foot from the Wagah check post, even if they have been vaccinated in the past, he said, adding that this would continue for the next few months.

Punjab, has been polio free since 2009 and India has so far reported only one case of polio in West Bengal’s Howrah district in January this year according the India Health Ministry.

With Hajj and Umrah season already started, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued vaccination requirements for travelers (all ages) for Umrah and Hajj.

Travelers of all ages from polio endemic countries are required to show proof of vaccination with Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) six weeks prior to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and will receive a further dose of OPV upon their arrival.

Contracting Polio – Symptoms

While Polio has been eradicated in most of the world there are still cases of polio in Afghanistan, Nigeria, India and Pakistan – four countries that are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as polio-endemic. Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is usually transmitted through contaminated food and water and is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system.

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. 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.

There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life. 

 - HUMNews Staff, WHO