For the week ending 10/19/24
Dear Polio Eradication Warriors,
Four new Wild Polio paralysis cases reported this week. We are now 3 weeks since the most recent report of a child being paralyzed by the Wild Polio Virus in Pakistan.
World Polio Day - I hope all of you have World Polio Day events planned for your Club. If not, please consider something small such as asking for a small (or large) cash donation to Polio from each of your members at your club meeting this week or next. If possible, note who the donations came from and credit their member accounts so they receive their Rotary Foundation (Paul Harris) credit.
Rice University (Houston, TX) Bioengineers awarded $3.4M for project to End Polio - Grant supports Rice-developed time-release technology - Rice University bioengineer Kevin McHugh has been awarded $3.4 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a project to incorporate protection against poliomyelitis (polio) into the combination vaccine that protects against five common and dangerous childhood diseases. Incorporating polio VLPs into the pentavalent vaccine formulation would make it octavalent, i.e. capable of protecting children under 5 from eight different pathogens ⎯ diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, a type of bacteria that can give rise to pneumonia and meningitis and all three strains of poliovirus. “Our hope is to make a polio-free world a reality,” McHugh said.
Monday, 10/14/24, Second Round of Gaza Polio Campaign Underway
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it had been able to start its polio campaign in central Gaza and vaccinate tens of thousands of children despite Israeli strikes in the designated protected zone hours before.
As part of an agreement between the Israeli military and Palestinian militant group Hamas, humanitarian pauses in the year-long Gaza war begin early on Monday to reach hundreds of thousands of children. WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević told a Geneva press briefing that over 92,000 children, or around half of the children targeted for Polio vaccines in the central area, had been inoculated on Monday.
The first three days will focus on the central Gaza Strip, then after a two-day pause, the campaign will resume in southern Gaza, followed by pausing for one day, before resuming for three more days in northern Gaza. All vaccinations will be given between 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and all pauses will be used to reassess the needs of the population.
Total Wild Polio cases |
Year-to-date 2024
|
Total
2023
|
Total
2022
|
Total
2021
|
Total
2020
|
Globally |
54
|
12
|
30
|
6
|
140
|
- in endemic countries: |
54
|
12
|
22
|
5
|
140
|
2024 Circulating Variant Polio Case Total - 187 Angola - 7, Benin - 2, Cameroon - 2, Chad - 8, DR Congo - 21, Ethiopia - 14, Guinea - 5, Indonesia - 7, Liberia - 1,Mali - 1, Mozambique - 1, Niger - 9, Nigeria - 62, Occupied Palestinian Territory - 1, Somalia - 3, South Sudan - 9, Yemen - 33
2024 Wild Polio Case Total 54 - Afghanistan 22 - Pakistan 32
2023 Wild Polio Case Total 12 - Afghanistan 8, Pakistan 6
2022 Wild Polio Cases - Pakistan 20, Afghanistan 2, Mozambique 8
2022 Circulating Variant Polio Cases – 914 in 26 Countries
2023 Circulating Variant Polio Case Total - 524 Benin - 3, Burkina Faso - 3, Burundi - 1, Central African Republic - 14, Chad - 55, Cote d' Ivoire - 6, DR Congo - 223, Guinea - 47, Indonesia - 6, Israel - 1, Kenya - 8, Madagascar - 24, Mali - 15, Mauritania - 1, Mozambique - 5,Niger - 2, Nigeria - 87, Somalia - 8, South Sudan - 3, Tanzania - 3, Yemen - 8, Zambia - 1, Zimbabwe - 1.
New Polio Cases & Samples reported this week -
- Pakistan: four WPV1 cases and 15 WPV1-positive environmental samples
- Ethiopia: two cVDPV2 cases
- Occupied Palestinian territory : five cVDPV2-positive environmental samples
Quote of the Day - "Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose - unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction." Robert Frost (1874-1963)
The Final Two Polio Endemic Countries:
Pakistan Four new Wild Polio cases reported this week. Thirty-two Wild Polio cases reported in 2024. Six Wild Polio Cases reported in 2023. The most recent case had an onset of paralysis on 09/20/24. Fifteen WPV1 Environmental Samples and no cVDPV2 Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Pakistan.
Afghanistan No new Wild Polio cases reported this week. Twenty-two Wild Polio cases reported in 2024. Six Wild Polio Cases reported in 2023. The most recent case had an onset of paralysis on 08/30/24. No WPV1 Environmental Samples and no cVDPV2 Positive Environmental Samples were reported this week in Afghanistan.