The BBC reports that a small outbreak of polio has been confirmed in Papua New Guinea, eighteen years after the disease was declared eradicated in the country.
"We are deeply concerned about this polio case in Papua New Guinea, and the fact that the virus is circulating," said Pascoe Kase, Papua New Guinea's heath secretary.
"Our immediate priority is to respond and prevent more children from being infected."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the end of last week that the same virus that was found in the six-year-old boy was also found in samples taken from two healthy children in the same community, the WHO said. This means the virus is circulating in the community, representing an outbreak, it added. Immediate steps to stop the spread of the highly contagious disease include large-scale immunisation campaigns and strengthening surveillance systems that help detect it early.
Papua New Guinea has not had a case of wild poliovirus since 1996, and the country was certified as polio-free in 2000 along with the rest of the WHO Western Pacific Region.
Today, despite the outbreak, the disease remains endemic only in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where conspiracy theories about the vaccine (and not all of them are completely unfounded) hamper eradication efforts. Dr. Steven Novella has an article discussing the outbreak in more depth.
Related Stories
'Milestone' in polio eradication achieved
The second of three forms of the polio virus has been eradicated, experts have announced.
There are three types of the wild polio virus, which, while scientifically different, cause the same symptoms, including paralysis or even death,
The world was declared free of type 2 four years ago - and now the World Health Organization has said type 3 has also been eradicated.
But type 1 is still circulating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
See also:
Two Strains of Polio Are Gone, but the End of the Disease Is Still Far Off
Related:
'What the hell is going on?' Polio Cases are Vanishing in Pakistan, Yet the Virus Won't go Away
Polio Outbreak in Papua New Guinea
The End Of Guinea Worm Was Just Around the Corner. Not Anymore
(Score: 3, Informative) by stormwyrm on Thursday June 28 2018, @01:48PM (1 child)
Please place it along with the links to the Guardian (like this: "not all of them [thenational.ae] completely unfounded [theguardian.com]). I pasted that one in the wrong way and hit post prematurely when I should have hit preview. Sorry about that.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 28 2018, @02:55PM
And even the "fake" vaccination campaigns uses REAL vaccine. So motives were suspect, but the vaccinations were real.
There is no anti-vax sentiment in Papua New Guinea, just a lazy government who won't take free UN supplied vaccine.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @02:18PM (6 children)
After 30 years [cnn.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by rigrig on Thursday June 28 2018, @02:32PM (2 children)
Luckily that turned out to be a false alarm [cbslocal.com]
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @03:00PM (1 child)
So how much of that was propaganda?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 29 2018, @02:06AM
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Thursday June 28 2018, @02:33PM (2 children)
Steve Novella’s article [sciencebasedmedicine.org] links to a more recent report stating that the Venezuela case was a false alarm [cbslocal.com]. It's not polio, whatever it was.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @03:41PM (1 child)
Was it lupus?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28 2018, @05:21PM
It's never lupis