Uganda detects circulating vaccine-derived polio virus

Uganda Detection confirmed polio virus Type 2 is derived from circulating vaccine (cVDPV2) in samples taken from sewage stations in Kampala, something health authorities associate with reduced immunization due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus discovered has links to a strain of cVDPV2 registered in Sudan,” the Ugandan Ministry of Health said in a release, although no cases of disease progression have been reported.

According to the Ugandan government, the re-emergence of poliomyelitis In the country related to reducing vaccination due to the effects of the pandemic COVID-19 And with the outbreak of the disease in other countries in the region.

“Ongoing cross-border movements between our neighboring countries and the countries of the Horn of Africa that are currently affected cVDPV outbreak “They pose an additional risk for importing polio,” the ministry’s letter says.

In response to this discovery, Uganda will increase surveillance to detect potential cases of polio and will also increase vaccination efforts.

Uganda was declared free of wild polio in 2006 and the entire African continent received the same certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) a year earlier, after Nigeria, the last country left to reach the goal, was declared free of wild polio.

Despite this, in recent months, about two dozen African countries have discovered strains of cVDPV, such as Kenya, South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

These outbreaks, which are very rare according to the World Health Organization, are due to the fact that Oral polio vaccine (OPV) contains an attenuated vaccine virus that can undergo genetic changes that give it the ability to cause paralysis, thus creating the so-called circulating vaccine-origin polio virus (cVDPV).

They occur only in environments with poor immunization of the population and poor sanitation, where remnants of the oral vaccine remain in secretions and the virus is transformed, despite the extreme vulnerability.

Polio from vaccination, after all, is also dangerous, and the best way to combat it is, according to the Who is theSpecifically to ensure that the entire population is immunized against the virus.

the poliomyelitis It is an infectious disease that mainly affects children under the age of five and there is no cure for it.

Its symptoms include FeverAnd fatigueAnd vomiting NS Headache It can cause, in some cases, paralysis on the parties.

With information from EFE