25 October 2005

Poliomyelitis: Nepal and Indonesia

 

Nepal - as of 24 October a single case of poliomyelitis has been reported in Sarlahi district, Central Division.  Date of onset of this case was 6 August 2005 and it is the first case in Nepal for four years [1].

Indonesia - as of 20 October, nine new cases of poliomyelitis were confirmed from Aceh, Riau and Lampung provinces in Sumatra, and Banten, Central Java, and East Java provinces in Java [2].  This brings the number of polio cases confirmed since April 2005 to 309.  A total of ten provinces and 36 districts are affected. Indonesia carried out two country-wide immunisation campaigns on 30 August and 27 September, that targeted 24.4 million children under the age of five years.

Six countries remain endemic for polio: Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Six countries have re-established transmission following importation of polio beginning in 2003: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Sudan. Countries not previously listed that have reported polio cases arising from importation in 2005 are: Angola, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen.

Recommendations for travellers

On 19 August 2004, NaTHNaC reviewed the current global epidemiology of polio and made a number of changes to recommendations that reflected the global status and the risk of polio to travellers [3]. As of 24 October 2005 these recommendations remain current: all travellers to countries at risk for polio should be up-to-date with the UK immunisation schedule and receive a booster dose of polio if they have not had one within the previous 10 years.

References

1.WHO. Regional Office for Southeast Asia. Immunization and Vaccine Development. On-line resource, accessed 24 October 2005. http://www.searo.who.int/EN/Section1226.asp

2. World Health Organization. Outbreak of polio in Indonesia. Updated 20 October 2005. On-line resource, accessed 24 October 2005. www.searo.who.int/vaccine/linkfiles/polioupdate.pdf

3. NaTHNaC Clinical Update (19 August 2004): Poliomyelitis and Changes to Recommendations for Travellers. On-line resource, accessed 24 October 2005. www.NaTHNaC.org/pro/clinical_updates/polio_recommendations

.htm

Links

NaTHNaC Poliomyelitis Information Sheet: http://www.NaTHNaC.org/pro/factsheets/polio.htm

WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative: www.polioeradication.org