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THE WORLD HEALTH Organisation (WHO) has declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) over the spread of wild poliovirus.
The decision was taken after a meeting of the Emergency Committee which discussed the recent outbreaks of the devastating disease in a number of countries.
“The conditions for a public health emergency of international concern have been met,” WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward told reporters in Geneva following crisis talks on the virus long thought to be on the road to extinction.
“If unchecked, this situation could result in failure to eradicate globally one of the world’s most serious vaccine preventable diseases.”
The committee heard from nine countries - Afghanistan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic – about recent outbreaks.
At end-2013, 60 per cent of polio cases were the result of international spread of wild poliovirus, and there was increasing evidence that adult travellers contributed to this spread.
During the 2014 low transmission season there has already been international spread of wild poliovirus from three of the 10 States that are currently infected: in central Asia (from Pakistan to Afghanistan), in the Middle East (Syrian Arab Republic to Iraq) and in Central Africa (Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea).
“A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop this international spread of wild poliovirus and to prevent new spread with the onset of the high transmission season in May/June 2014,” said the WHO.
The consequences of further international spread are particularly acute today given the large number of polio-free but conflict-torn and fragile States which have severely compromised routine immunisation services and are at high risk of re-infection.
“Such States would experience extreme difficulty in mounting an effective response were wild poliovirus to be reintroduced.”
Polio, a crippling and potentially fatal viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five, has come close to being beaten as the result of a 25-year effort.
In 1988, the disease was endemic in 125 countries.
The number of recorded cases worldwide has plunged from 350,000 in 1988 to 417 in 2013, according to WHO data.
So far this year, 74 cases have been spotted worldwide – 59 of them in Pakistan, Aylward said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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Antivaxers have a lot to answer for. That’s about the most dangerous form of delusion today.
Sad but true Jimbo.
Not in this case. Can’t stand that crowd but this is due to countries not having basic medical care. Many of the outbreaks occur in war-torn countries.
Exactly jimbo & although like polio I thought they were extinct in Ireland but as we see in the comments below I was wrong.
Religious ‘leaders’ have more blame on this than anyone else.
And yes, I mean Islam. For those that frequently say that we don’t insult Islam like we insult Christianity.
Really Einstein? Lol
Polio is a major problem in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan because of the Taliban. They have declared the polio vaccination program a western plot to sterilize children and wipe out Islam. They stir up fear in communities and attack health care workers, vaccination clinics and families who seek medical help. Either they believe their own crap or they don’t want the westerners and governement to be seen to be helping locals. Either way it illustrates just what kind of evil the people are up against in their fight against the extremists.
Patrick is right about the Taliban, they have murdered health workers.
Isn’t religion just lovely.
Spot on comment Patrick. Also the osama bin laden was captured through a spy doctor who went in his compound to vaccinate his kids. So that makes them kill more health workers in upper part of Pakistan.
Well perhaps you shouldnt believe all you are fed from the media. When I WAS IN Pakistan i seen first hand their polio programme. A group of three ladies and a police officer. There is no taking no for an answer. That is what the police officer was for. My daughter had her shots but still got the drop on her tongue and a sweet! As for Afghanistan there was a well reported case of American special forces using a particular Vaccination programme as cover that is what started their intolerance and distrust! Just saying
Anyone feeling complacent about this should remember that all it would take is one immigrant or tourist to reintroduce the disease here; we have so many young children unvaccinated it could quickly become an Irish disaster.
This isn’t just an issue for the Third World.
“The HPSC report also shows that at 24 months of age, 96% of Irish children are vaccinated with the six in one; however, the HPSC says some children are missing out on other vaccines at this age.”
http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=23527
The 6in1 contains the polio vaccine, irish vaccination rates are really high and the rate for the 6in1 exceeds what medical professionals state is needed for herd immunity, so based on that we should be fine
“60% of polio cases were of wild polio virus” what were the other 40% of cases?? Vaccine induced polio virus??
Rkmr, please stop posting on the internet you only show you’re ignorance
It was a genuine question. The article says 60% of polio cases are of the wild virus, so what are the other 40% of cases?
You’re ignorant / your ignorance .
If that was a genuine question please consider getting help. Going back to primary school would be a fairly decent starting point.
Vaccine induced polio is a serious problem, the WHO admits this. This is why there is major efforts ongoing into trying to find a solution to the cold chain problem which seriously hampers vaccination efforts in 3rd world countries. The oral polio vaccine is a live vaccine and does shed and cause vaccine derived polio virus. The injectable polio vaccine does not shed, has no risk of vaccine derived polio virus which is why huge efforts are being made to phase out the oral vaccine and introduce the injectable one in 3rd world countries. Polio vaccination is really important especially in 3rd world countries but I’m shocked to see 40% of polio cases are vaccine derived. It’s also really annoying that anyone who says anything not 100% positive about vaccines or who mentions there documented failings is labelled anti vaccination
I have read your comments. You are anti vaccine. If people are labelling you anti vaccine is because of what you have said here before.
Why would I vaccinate my child if I was anti vaccine? I just believe that we should educate ourselves better when it comes to this topic. Vaccines are neither 100% safe or 100% effective nor are they suitable for every child, that’s not a conspiracy or anti vaccine it’s the truth that’s all.
Al Fonso
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
If you would like to refute someone’s point without childish insults then please go ahead. So far all you have contributed are logical fallacies.
Oh my god the internet police is here!
(FYI I don’t give a flying crap about what you think about my comments)
Rkmr. That will be other strain of polio virus. Virus can have minor changes in their structure so they can infect more. More like a mutation. And vaccine induced cases are 1 in 1000 may be and that only due to ORAL POLIO VACCINE. I believe irish system gives injectables not oral
Thanks majid for actually addressing my question :) I did state that the risk only comes from the oral vaccine, but my understanding was that when wild polio is mentioned it covers all stains of wild polio. That the term wild polio is now used to cover all strains except those which come from the oral vaccine? Yes the oral polio vaccine is not used in ireland, it’s contained in the 6in1 and is a dead virus. I really hope that the use of oral polio vaccine is discontinued soon and replaced with the dead injectable version. It just seems crazy that India is now declared polio free yet still sees cases of vaccine derived polio because they still use the oral vaccine
“Polio programme: let us declare victory and move on.
AuthorsVashisht N, et al. Show all Journal
Indian J Med Ethics. 2012 Apr-Jun;9(2):114-7.
Abstract
It was hoped that following polio eradication, immunisation could be stopped. However the synthesis of polio virus in 2002, made eradication impossible. It is argued that getting poor countries to expend their scarce resources on an impossible dream over the last 10 years was unethical. Furthermore, while India has been polio-free for a year, there has been a huge increase in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP). In 2011, there were an extra 47,500 new cases of NPAFP. Clinically indistinguishable from polio paralysis but twice as deadly, the incidence of NPAFP was directly proportional to doses of oral polio received. Though this data was collected within the polio surveillance system, it was not investigated. The principle of primum-non-nocere was violated. The authors suggest that the huge bill of US$ 8 billion spent on the programme, is a small sum to pay if the world learns to be wary of such vertical programmes in the future.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22591873/
The vaccine is needed – polio needs to be eradicated, but this sort of thing really doesn’t help get that message across. When resources are scarce, this is precisely what would cause governments to stop funding vaccination programmes. Vaccines are supposed to have minimal risks because they’re used on healthy people – this is not encouraging.
have your say