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- After almost two years of being polio-free, Africa has a new case.
- The virus was detected in a three-year-old child in Malawi.
- WHO Africa has sent a team to contain the spread of the virus.
In a historic announcement in August 2020, the African wing of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the continent free from polio.
Now, however, in an unexpected development, the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) has announced the disease was detected in a child suffering from paralysis in Lilongwe, Malawi. The three-year-old showed symptoms in November 2021, and a stool sample was collected. Malawi last recorded a case of wild polio in 1992.
In February 2022, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa and the US Centers for Disease Control completed sequencing and confirmed that the child had type 1 wild poliovirus (WPV1).
The results of the sequencing show that the WPV1 detected in Malawi is linked to what has been circulating in Pakistan, where polio is endemic.
“For many years, the GPEI [Global Polio Eradication Initiative] programme has been working to eradicate polio. While the numbers of wild poliovirus cases have been massively reduced worldwide, this is a reminder that polio can resurface at any time if we don’t continue global efforts to eradicate the virus. This tragic case of paralysis in a young child is a reminder of the life-changing impact that polio can have on children and families,” said Prof Helen Rees, the chair of the WHO Emergency Committee on Polio in a press release.
Containing the virus
According to a previous Health24 report, one case of polio is considered an outbreak, and teams are quickly mobilised to contain it. WHO-Africa and GLPN say that a team will be sent to Malawi to support coordination, surveillance, data management, communications, and operations.
“As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world, all countries remain at risk of importation of the virus. Following the detection of wild polio in Malawi, we’re taking urgent measures to forestall its potential spread. Thanks to a high level of polio surveillance on the continent and the capacity to quickly detect the virus, we can swiftly launch a rapid response and protect children from the debilitating impact of this disease,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa said in a statement.
Status of polio in Africa
In 2020, Africa was declared polio-free, with the last case last detected in Nigeria in 2016. WHO-Africa says that the polio-free status of the continent remains intact.
“As an imported case from Pakistan, this detection does not affect the African region’s wild poliovirus-free certification status,” the body states.
