According to WHO, it is a case of wild-type wild poliovirus, the only one still circulating around the world after the eradication of the other two types since 2015.
Le Monde with AFP
A case of wild type 1 poliovirus, the only one still outstanding in the world after the eradication of the other two types since 2015, has been reported in Malawi, announced Thursday, February 17 the World Health Organization ( WHO). This is the first case detected in Africa in more than five years.
The Malawi authorities warned that this PVS1 strain had been identified in a child in the capital Lilongwe, stated WHO. Laboratory analyzes have established that it was linked to that in circulation in the province of Sindh in Pakistan. PVS1 is endemic in only two countries: Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.
“As this is an imported case of Pakistan, this detection does not affect the certification of Africa as a wild poliovirus-free region,” WHO provided. Africa has benefited from this status since August 2020 when all forms of wild poliovirus have been eliminated from the continent. There is no case for four years to obtain it.
Increased vaccination and reinforced monitoring
“We take urgent measures to block any risk of propagation,” says Matshidiso Meti, Director of WHO for Africa, in a statement. In particular, the International Organization has planned to increase vaccinations in Malawi and surveillance has been strengthened in neighboring countries.
“The last case of wild poliovirus in Africa has been reported in northern Nigeria in 2016 and there were only five cases in the world in 2021. (…) We will mobilize all resources to help the Action of the country, “said Dr. Modjirom Ndoutabe, in charge of Polio Coordination for WHO in Africa.
Polioviruses cause irreversible paralysis, or even death. Non-wild forms of the virus, poliovirus derived from a vaccine strain against poliomyelitis, continue to be transmitted in Africa and Asia. They are caused by the weakened form of the virus used in the vaccines, which is then excreted.
The poliovirus is transmitted by the stool of an infected person and then by contamination of water or food, and it multiplies in the intestine. There is no treatment but vaccination prevents infection, so transmission, which made it almost eradicate wild shapes.
The vaccine was created in the 1950s but remained out of reach of the poor countries of Asia and Africa to a significant mobilization in recent decades. Africa had counted more than 70,000 cases for the year 1996.