Transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, and since 2003, Nigeria has been a reservoir for WPV reintroduction to 25 polio-free countries. In 2012, the Nigerian government activated an emergency operations center and implemented a national emergency action plan to eradicate polio. The 2013 revision of this plan prioritized 1) improvin...

During the 2014-2015 outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, 13 type 2 circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) were isolated from 6 polio patients and 7 healthy contacts. To clarify the genetic properties of cVDPVs and their emergence, we combined epidemiologic and virologic data for polio cases in Guinea. Deviation of public health resources to the Ebola outbreak disrupted polio v...

BACKGROUND The European region, certified as polio free in 2002, had recent wild poliovirus (WPV) introductions, resulting in a major outbreak in Central Asian countries and Russia in 2010 and in current widespread WPV type 1 circulation in Israel, which endangered the polio-free status of the region. METHODS We assessed the data on the major determinants of poliovirus transmission risk (popu...

Pakistan is one of the two endemic countries for polio, reporting co-circulation WPV1 and cVDPV2. classified by International Health Regulations (IHR) as a state infected with Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) circulating Vaccine derived poliovirus 2 (cVDPV2) potential risk international spread. We describe an ongoing outbreak in North Waziristan district southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province l...

In 2012, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency. Indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission remains uninterrupted in Nigeria (in the WHO African Region [AFR]) and in Afghanistan and Pakistan (in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region [EMR]). In the WHO AFR, multiple WPV outbreaks have occurred since...

Background The Polio Eradication Initiative in Nigeria, which started >20 years ago, faced many challenges, including initial denial, resistance from communities, and prolonged regional safety concerns. These challenges led into the structuring of the response including the development of the National Emergency Action Plan, improved partner coordination and government engagement, and the establ...

In 2012, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared completion of polio eradication a programmatic emergency. Polio cases are detected through surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases and subsequent testing of stool specimens for polioviruses (PVs) at WHO-accredited laboratories within the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN). AFP surveillance is supp...

In 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to interrupt wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission worldwide. By 2013, only three countries remained that had never interrupted WPV transmission: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Since 2003, northern Nigeria has been a reservoir for WPV reintroduction into 26 previously polio-free countries. In May 2014, the World Health Organization declared the inte...

Australia, along with 36 other countries in the Western Pacific Region, was declared free of poliomyelitis by the World Health Organization in October 2000. Yet, the persistence of wild poliovirus in the 4 remaining polio-endemic countries-Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan-poses a risk for its importation into all countries declared polio free. We describe the public health response and...

India's success in eliminating wild polioviruses (WPVs) has been acclaimed globally. Since the last case on January 13, 2011 success has been sustained for two years. By early 2014 India could be certified free of WPV transmission, if no indigenous transmission occurs, the chances of which is considered zero. Until early 1990s India was hyperendemic for polio, with an average of 500 to 1000 chi...