Malawi declares polio outbreak

The Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) has confirmed the presence of a type 1 wild poliovirus (WPV1) in a child suffering from paralysis in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. Analysis shows that the virus is genetically linked to WPV1 that was detected in Pakistan’s Sindh province in October 2019. The three-year-old girl in Malawi experienced onset of paralysis on 19 November 2021, and stool specimens were collected for testing. Sequencing of the virus conducted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this case as WPV1. There are 3 strains of wild poliovirus (WPV1, WPV2 and WP3V), WPV2 was declared eradicated in 2015 and no case of WPV3 has been found since the last reported case in Nigeria in November 2012. Only WPV1 remains and Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last 2 countries that are endemic for WPV1. One case of...