Africa-Press – Botswana. Malawi has detected a case of wild poliomyelitis – the first in Africa in more than five years, but it does not call into question the status of the continent, declared free of the disease since 2020, announced the World Health Organization (WHO).
In a statement released yesterday, the WHO says that Malawi authorities have declared an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1, after discovering a case in a child in the country’s capital.
Africa was declared polio-free in August 2020 after eliminating all forms of wild polio in the region.
According to the WHO, laboratory tests show that the strain now detected in Malawi is linked to the strain that circulates in the province of Sindh, in southern Pakistan, a country where the disease remains endemic.
As it is a case imported from Pakistan, the detection does not affect the African continent’s status as polio-free, explains the WHO.
“As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world, all countries are at risk of importing the virus,” said WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, quoted in the organization’s statement
. WHO is taking “urgent measures to prevent the potential spread”, added the official, stressing that the “high level of polio surveillance on the continent” and the “ability to quickly detect the virus” allow “a rapid response” and protection WHO is helping Malawi authorities assess risk and respond to an outbreak, including supplementary immunization, the organization clarifies in the statement, adding that other partner organizations are also sending teams to the country.
“The last case of wild poliovirus in Africa was identified in northern Nigeria in 2016, and globally there were only five cases in 2021. Any case of wild poliovirus is a significant event and we will mobilize all resources to support the response of the country,” said Modjirom Ndoutabe, coordinator for polio at WHO Africa.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause complete paralysis within hours.
via the fecal-oral route or, less frequently, via contaminated food or water.Although there is no cure for polio, the disease can be prevented with a simple and effective vaccine, underlines the WHO.
The disease mainly affects children under 5 years of age and is only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The WHO has been fighting for decades to eradicate the disease and had set a deadline of 2000, but since then it has failed several goals to eliminate it.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many control efforts were suspended, leading experts to warn of a possible setback in eradication plans.
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