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Cases of wild poliovirus on the decline in Nigeria
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Religious and political leaders in Nigeria are helping to boost immunization rates, which is leading to decreases in patients with wild poliovirus, according to a CDC report.
Nigeria is one of four remaining countries, including India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, that has never eliminated wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission of both serotypes 1 and 3, and has served as the reservoir for circulation of these serotypes into other areas. WPV cases of Nigerian origin have been imported in 26 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia during the past 8 years. Transmission also led to increases in WPV in Chad and Sudan.
Nigeria had the highest number of reported patients with polio — 798 — in 2008. That number decreased to 388 reported cases in 2009 and three cases in 2010, after health officials stepped up supplemental immunization activities in those areas with the trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine. Health officials said there were 148 patients with circulating type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus in 2005, but last year, health officials reported eight cases.
Non-vaccinated patients in seven high-incidence states of Nigeria who had nonpolio acute flaccid paralysis also decreased from 17.6% in 2008 to 10.7% in 2009. CDC researchers said this reduction is a good indicator of the effectiveness of immunization activities in Nigeria.
CDC researchers said population immunity may be steadily increasing in areas that were traditionally responsible for WPV transmission. They added that Nigeria may have the potential to eliminate WPV transmission in the near future.
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