The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said Malawi’s health authorities have an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 after a case was detected in a young child in the capital Lilongwe, reported WHO News.
Malawi’s case is the first wild poliovirus case identified in Africa in the last five years. The continent was declared free of wild polio in August 2020. The last case of wild poliovirus in Africa was detected in northern Nigeria back in 2016 and globally there were just five cases in 2021.
“As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world all countries remain at risk of importation of the virus,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.
She said after the detection of wild polio in Malawi, the WHO is taking urgent measures to forestall its potential spread. She added the global health body can swiftly launch a rapid response and protect children from the impact of the disease, all thanks to a high level of polio surveillance in the continent and the capacity to quickly detect the virus.
The global health body said it was providing all possible support to the health authorities in Malawi, in carrying out a risk assessment and outbreak response and deploying the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) rapid response team. It has also increased supplemental immunization.
The laboratory analysis has found that the strain that has been detected in Malawi is linked to one that has been circulating in Pakistan.
“As an imported case from Pakistan, this detection does not affect the African region’s wild poliovirus-free certification status,” the WHO said.
Dr. Modjirom Ndoutabe, the Polio Coordinator in the WHO Regional Office for Africa, said any case of wild poliovirus is a significant event and that the UN health body will mobilize all resources to support the country’s response to prevent polio spreading.
