Nigeria reports 77 polio cases in first 8 months of 2012

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The Global Polio Eradication Initiative describes Nigeria:

Nigeria is one of the most entrenched reservoirs of wild poliovirus in the world. It is the only country with ongoing transmission of all three serotypes: wild poliovirus type 1, wild poliovirus type 3, and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2.

According to a report in the Guardian Nigeria Monday, with five new cases of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) reported last week, the number of confirmed outbreak in the country between January and August 2012 has hit 77.The Global Polio Eradication Initiative said in their Weekly Polio Update, of the five newest cases reported this week; four of the cases were WPV1s from Katsina and one WPV3 from Yobe.This has prompted the Nigerian government to announce an immunization campaign in 11 states commencing on September 23.In addition, the next Expert Review Committee on Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization (ERC) is expected to meet on September10 to 11, to review impact of the national emergency action plan and recommend strategies going forward.There are three countries left on the planet that have not succeeded in interrupting polio transmission and are considered endemic: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.Polio is caused by the poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3. All three types cause paralysis, with wild poliovirus type 1 being isolated from paralysis cases most often.This viral infection is primarily spread from person to person through the fecal-oral route. However, in places where sanitation is very good,transmission though throat secretions may be considered more important.Polio is recognized in about 1 percent of infections by flaccid paralysis, while over 90 percent of infections are unapparent.Paralysis of poliomyelitis is usually asymmetric and the site of paralysis depends on the location of nerve cell destruction on the spinal cord or brain stem. Legs are affected more often than the arms.Paralysis of the respiration can be life threatening.Most cases of polio are in children under the age of three.Prevention of polio is through immunization, either through the live oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) or the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV).For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page