WHO says vaccine-derived poliovirus detected in Papua New Guinea
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) had been detected in stool specimens of two healthy children in Papua New Guinea on May 9.
The detection of wild poliovirus or vaccine-derived poliovirus, including from samples taken from healthy children, is considered a serious public health event, WHO said in a statement.
It added that the detection of circulating type 2 poliovirus was classified as a 'polio outbreak.'
Wild polio is only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but vaccine-derived polio continues to cause outbreaks in a wider range of countries. For example, this year, countries including Nigeria and Ethiopia, among others, have reported tens of cases of paralysis caused by polio.
This is the first polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea since 2018, when an outbreak was reported in the same area as the new detections, Lae city in Morobe province.
Vaccination protects against all forms of polio, but coverage rates in Papua New Guinea are only around 44 percent for the third dose needed for protection, the WHO said. Efforts are now underway to detect further transmission and boost vaccination coverage in the affected area.
Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the faecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in young children, with those under 2 years old most at risk. In nearly all cases it has no symptoms, making it hard to detect.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
12 hours ago
- Arab News
RFK Jr. ousts entire US vaccine panel over alleged conflicts
WASHINGTON: US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced he was dismissing all current members of a key federal vaccine advisory panel, accusing them of conflicts of interest — his latest salvo against the nation's immunization policies. The removal of all 17 experts of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was revealed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and an official press release. Kennedy, who has spent two decades promoting vaccine misinformation, cast the move as essential to restoring public trust, claiming the committee had been compromised by financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. 'Today we are prioritizing the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,' he said in a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services. 'The public must know that unbiased science — evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest — guides the recommendations of our health agencies.' In his op-ed, Kennedy claimed the panel was 'plagued with persistent conflicts of interest' and had become 'little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine.' He added that new members were being considered to replace those ousted — all of whom were appointed under former president Joe Biden. ACIP members are chosen for their recognized expertise and are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest. 'RFK Jr. and the Trump administration are taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in response. 'Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,' Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who expressed concern about Kennedy's track record during his Senate nomination but ultimately voted in his favor, wrote on X. 'I've just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I'll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.' 'Fixing a problem that doesn't exist' The decision drew sharp criticism from Paul Offit, a pediatrician and leading expert on virology and immunology who served on the panel from 1998 to 2003. 'He believes that anybody who speaks well of vaccines, or recommends vaccines, must be deeply in the pocket of industry,' Offit told AFP. 'He's fixing a problem that doesn't exist.' 'We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines,' added Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement. Once a celebrated environmental lawyer, Kennedy pivoted from the mid-2000s to public health — chairing a nonprofit that discouraged routine childhood immunizations and amplified false claims, including the long-debunked theory that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism. Since taking office, he has curtailed access to Covid-19 shots and continued to raise fears around the MMR vaccine — even as the United States faces its worst measles outbreak in years, with three reported deaths and more than 1,100 confirmed cases. Experts warn the true case count is likely far higher. 'How can this country have confidence that the people RFK Jr. wants on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices are people we can trust?' Offit asked. He recalled that during US President Donald Trump's first term, several states formed independent vaccine advisory panels after the administration pressured federal health agencies to prematurely approve Covid-19 vaccines ahead of the 2020 election. That kind of fragmentation, Offit warned, could happen again. ACIP is scheduled to hold its next meeting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta from June 25 to June 27. Vaccines for anthrax, Covid-19, human papillomavirus, influenza, Lyme disease, respiratory syncytial virus, and more are on the agenda.
Arab News
14 hours ago
- Arab News
Gaza's Al-Amal hospital ‘virtually out of service': WHO
GENEVA: The Al-Amal Hospital in Gaza, one of the few still operating in the Palestinian territory, is now 'virtually out of service' due to intense military activity, the head of the WHO said Monday. 'Access to the hospital is obstructed, preventing new patients from reaching care, and leading to more preventable deaths,' the World Health Organization's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X. Tedros said two emergency medical teams — one local, the other international — 'are still doing their best to serve the remaining patients with the limited medical supplies left on the premises.' 'With the closure of Al-Amal, Nasser Medical Complex is now the only remaining hospital with an intensive care unit in Khan Younis,' he said. The WHO said June 5 that Al-Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals were unable to fully treat the wounded that continue to pour in because of serious shortages of medicines and medical supplies after two months of total blockade. Israeli authorities have recently allowed in some humanitarian aid, but way less than what is needed. Nearly 20 months of relentless war, triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, has created one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, with civilians exhausted by bombardments, forced displacement and hunger.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Arab News
WHO urges ‘urgent protection' of key Gaza hospitals
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Thursday called for the 'urgent protection' of two of the last hospitals remaining in the Gaza Strip, warning that the territory's health system is 'collapsing.' The WHO said the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital risk becoming 'non-functional' because of restrictions on aid and access routes, further damaging a health system already battered by months of war. 'There are already no hospitals functioning in the north of Gaza. Nasser and Amal are the last two functioning public hospitals in Khan Younis, where currently most of the population is living,' the UN agency said in a statement on X. 'Without them, people will lose access to critical health services,' it said. The WHO added that closure of the two hospitals would eliminate 490 beds and reduce Gaza's hospital capacity to less than 1,400 beds — 40 percent below pre-war levels — for a population of two million people. The WHO said the hospitals have not been told to evacuate but lie within or just outside an Israeli-declared evacuation zone announced on June 2. Israeli authorities have told Gaza's health ministry that access routes to the two hospitals will be blocked, the WHO said. As a result, it will be 'difficult, if not impossible' for medical staff and new patients to reach them, it said. 'If the situation further deteriorates, both hospitals are at high risk of becoming non-functional, due to movement restrictions, insecurity, and the inability of WHO and partners to resupply or transfer patients,' the organization said. The WHO said both hospitals are already operating 'above their capacity,' with patients suffering life-threatening injuries arriving amid a 'dire shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies.' It warned the closure of Nasser and Al-Amal would have dire consequences for patients in need of surgical care, intensive care, blood bank and transfusion services, cancer care and dialysis. After nearly 20 months of war triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Gaza is mired in one of the world's gravest humanitarian crises, with civilians enduring relentless bombardment, mass displacement and severe hunger.
