The first wild poliovirus case appeared in Africa in more than five years. The case was detected in the capital Lilongwe after which Malawi declared a polio outbreak. However, the continent was declared free from all strains of wild polio back in 2020.
Polio is an extremely infectious disease caused by a virus. It affects the nervous system and can cause paralysis within hours. Polio is one of the scariest diseases in human history, but every case is preventable though vaccination only.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild polio is still endemic. An identical strain was found in a three-year-old child from Malawi, and it was linked to the one found in Pakistan.
“As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world all countries remain at risk of importing the virus,” said the World Health Organization’s regional director of Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti.
However, the size of the outbreak is not yet clear but the immediate goal will be to ensure the region of Malawi does not suffer a large outbreak.
WHO mentions that it is providing assistance to the Malawian health authorities and deploying the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) rapid response team. Furthermore, it is also initiating supplemental immunization.
The polio coordinator in the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr. Modjirom Ndoutabe said, “the last case of wild polio virus in Africa was identified in northern Nigeria in 2016 and globally there were only five cases in 2021. Any case of wild polio virus is significant event and we will mobilize all the resources to support the county’s response.”
Data from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative indicates that global cases of polio have dropped by 99% since 1988. The estimate showcases a stark drop from over 350,000 cases to only five cases in Afghanistan and Pakistan last year.