Poliomyelitis: Current Status in Iran and Worldwide

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Initial symptoms of polio include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent. There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented by immunization. Of the 3 types of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), type 2 wild poliovirus transmission has been successfully stopped (since 1999). Today, despite a concerted global eradication campaign, poliovirus continues to affect children and adults in Afghanistan, Pakistan and some African countries (Nigeria). In Iran, the last laboratory-confirmed indigenous polio case was reported in 1997. Until poliovirus transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of importation of polio, especially in the 'poliovirus importation belt' of countries from west Africa to the Horn of Africa.