Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

[Giuseppe]

[Source: World Health Organization, full page: (LINK). Edited.]


Wild poliovirus in Somalia

11/05/2013


An investigation has been launched into a preliminary report of the detection of a wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in the Banadir region of Somalia.

This is the first WPV to be reported from Somalia since 25 March 2007.

The virus was isolated from specimens collected on 21 April 2013 from a 32-month-old girl, who became ill due to acute flaccid paralysis on 18 April 2013, and from specimens collected from 3 of her close contacts.

An investigation team is on site; genetic sequencing of the virus is on-going to determine its origin. The preliminary results of these investigations will be reported as soon as possible.

Given that substantial areas of central and southern Somalia have not conducted vaccination activities since 2009, the confirmation of WPV circulation would constitute a serious national and international risk to public health.

A surveillance alert, highlighting the need for urgent active searches for additional cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and suspect polio in all health facilities, has been issued for all of Somalia and bordering areas of northern Kenya and eastern Ethiopia.

All countries in the WHO Regions of Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean are advised to heighten their surveillance for poliovirus.

An immediate vaccination response with oral polio vaccine (OPV) is being planned to begin on May 14-16 to reach more than 350,000 children under the age of five in all the 16 districts of Banadir region, with a series of subsequent activities, including nationwide OPV campaigns, under discussion.

WHO?s International Travel and Health recommends that all travellers to and from polio-infected areas be fully vaccinated against polio.


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[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Wild poliovirus in Somalia (WHO, May 11 2013)

Thursday, May 30, 2013
Polio outbreak spreads in Somalia
Senior Somali government officials launch polio campaign

Mogadishu, Somalia , 27 May 2013 – Mothers and children lined up patiently here today for polio vaccination, under a high sun and intense heat. Their vaccinator was the Prime Minister himself, Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid, who vaccinated children at the presidential palace as part of an emergency response to the reappearance of polio in Somalia.
Four cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in Somalia due to importation, causing great concern within the country, as well as from international partners. The risk is considerable that this could result in a large outbreak paralyzing hundreds of children.
The Mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Nur, joined the Prime Minister calling on all Somalis to support the polio campaign that will continue till 2 June.
...

http://www.polioeradication.org/Mediaroom/Newsstories/Newsstories2013/tabid/488/iid/305/Default.aspx

[Shiloh]

Re: Wild poliovirus in Somalia (WHO, May 11 2013)

Source: http://www.wfmj.com/story/22476065/i...-polio-vaccine


In Somalia, some parents say no to polio vaccine
Posted: Jun 01, 2013 11:34 AM EDT Updated: Jun 01, 2013 11:45 AM EDT
By ABDI GULED
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamic extremist rebels are fighting a campaign in Somalia to administer a polio vaccine, charging that it contains the virus that causes AIDS or could make children sterile, a battle of words that is frustrating health workers.

Al-Shabab, the rebels linked to al-Qaida, have discouraged many parents from getting their children inoculated against polio, a disease that is an incipient problem in this Horn of Africa nation long plagued by armed conflict and disease, according to health workers who spoke to The Associated Press...

[Shiloh]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Source: http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articl...0/newsbrief-08


Polio virus spreading in Mogadishu
June 20, 2013


A number of new polio cases have been reported in Mogadishu in the past week, sparking concerns that the outbreak of the disease may be spreading, Radio Ergo reported Wednesday (June 19th).

More than 20 children infected with the virus were admitted to the hospital in the past week, according to Doctor Lul Mahmud Mohamed, head of Mogadishu's Banadir Hospital.

"The hospital has been admitting on average two children every day affected by polio virus. Some of them have not been vaccinated and some were vaccinated but not in the proper way," Mohamed said.

A case involving a 20-year-old man has also been reported, indicating that adults are also at risk of infection...

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Polio Outbreak In Somalia Jeopardizes Global Eradication
by JASON BEAUBIEN
June 28, 2013 2:13 PM

A big worry among people trying to wipe out polio is that the virus will regain a foothold, somewhere to launch a comeback ? someplace, perhaps, like Somalia.

Polio has paralyzed 25 kids in Somalia and another six in a Kenyan refugee camp since early May, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative reported Wednesday. Before this outbreak, Somalia hadn't had a polio case in more than five years.

There were only 223 polio cases around the world in 2012, the lowest ever recorded. Even in the remaining three endemic countries ? Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria ? polio was only showing up isolated in a few remote areas.
...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/06/28/196615790/POLIO-SOMALIA?sc=tw&cc=share

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Polio Global Eradication Initiative
1 July 2013
Horn of Africa Polio Outbreak Bulletin
Situation analysis

 In the Horn of Africa, the outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) has reached 31 cases1: 25 from Somalia (primarily from Banadir region) and 6 from Kenya (Dadaab in north-eastern Kenya). This is the first WPV outbreak in Somalia since 2007 and in Kenya since 2011.
 In response to the outbreak and to prevent further spread, 3 vaccination campaigns with oral polio vaccine (OPV) have been held in Somalia, 2 each in Kenya and Ethiopia and 1 each in Djibouti and Yemen. The next campaigns are starting 30 June in Yemen, 1 July in Somalia and Kenya and 5
July in Ethiopia.
...

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/PolioinHornofAfrica01July2013.pdf

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Polio in Somalia and Kenya
Warning - Level 3, Avoid Nonessential Travel
Alert - Level 2, Practice Enhanced Precautions
Watch - Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions

Updated: July 11, 2013

What is the current situation?

According to the Polio Global Eradication InitiativeExternal Web Site Icon, there have been 41 cases reported from Somalia in 2013. These are the first wild poliovirus cases reported in Somalia since 2007.

Also, seven cases have been reported from Kenya. These are the first wild poliovirus cases confirmed in Kenya since July 2011. Dadaab, Kenya hosts a major refugee camp, housing nearly 500,000 people from across the Horn of Africa, including from Somalia. Countries across the Horn of Africa are now at risk of this outbreak because of large-scale population movements and persistent immunity gaps in some areas. Immunization campaigns are on-going in both Somalia and Kenya. Immunization campaigns are also planned or being conducted in other areas across the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia and Yemen.

CDC recommends that all travelers to Somalia and Kenya, and surrounding countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania be fully vaccinated against polio. In addition, adults should receive a one-time booster dose of polio vaccine.
...

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/polio-somalia-kenya

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Humanitarian Bulletin
Somalia
June 2013 | Issued on 15 July 2013
...
Emergency activities to curb polio outbreak
Almost 4 million vaccinated since wild polio was confirmed in May
Vaccination campaigns against polio continue following the confirmation of wild poliovirus
in Somalia and Kenya in May. So far, 66 cases have been confirmed in Somalia, primarily
in the Banadir region. In response to the outbreak and to prevent further spread, four
vaccination campaigns have been conducted and almost 4 million people have been
vaccinated against polio across Somalia, according to WHO.
While polio mainly affects young children, adults are considered at risk of the current
outbreak. Adults were therefore vaccinated against polio together with children in Mogadishu,
where the majority of the cases have been reported. More than 50 staff members
from UN agencies and NGOs have been mobilized to monitor the outbreak response in
Banadir region. Large areas of southern and central Somalia have not conducted immunization
campaigns since 2009 due to insecurity, leaving as many as 600,000 children
particularly vulnerable in this area: two recent polio cases have been confirmed from
Lower Shabelle region, according to WHO. To reduce the risk of spread of wild poliovirus
in hard-to-reach areas, aid workers have deployed transit point vaccination teams to
administer oral polio vaccine to children under age 10 who are visiting health facilities.
Responding to the polio outbreak is a top priority for the Somalia Humanitarian Country
Team in the next six months. Two key challenges remain: humanitarian access and
funding. Partners have submitted a request to the Central Emergency Response Fund for
close to $9 million to cover urgent funding needs until the end of the year. A funding
shortfall of $4.5 million is currently foreseen.
...

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/OCHA%20Somalia%20Humanitarian%20Bulletin%20June%202013.pdf

[Shiloh]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Source: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/somalia_69874.html


Polio outbreak in Somalia threatens to spread
By Susannah Price

With the first reported cases of polio in six years, Somalia faces a potentially serious outbreak of the disease amidst a continuing humanitarian crisis.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 18 July 2013 ? Faisa Abdullahi, 8 years old, lives in a camp for internally displaced people, where her family moved after their cattle died. She had never been given any vaccinations, and during the last polio outbreak, Faisa contracted the disease. Now she can only walk with the help of her crutches...

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somali: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Polio Eradication Suffers A Setback As Somali Outbreak Worsens
by JASON BEAUBIEN
July 20, 2013 6:44 AM

Somalia hadn't had a case of polio for nearly six years. But in the past few months, the virus has come back. Now the East African country has the worst polio outbreak anywhere in the world.

Twenty new cases of polio were reported this week in Somalia by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. That brings the total number of cases in the Horn of Africa to 73. The rest of the world combined has tallied only 59 cases so far this year.

Health workers are worried that the virus could gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa and jeopardize the multibillion-dollar effort to wipe out the virus worldwide.
...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/20/203601730/SOMALIA-POLIO-OUTBREAK?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw

Polio outbreak in Somalia threatens to spread

By Susannah Price

With the first reported cases of polio in six years, Somalia faces a potentially serious outbreak of the disease amidst a continuing humanitarian crisis.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 18 July 2013 – Faisa Abdullahi, 8 years old, lives in a camp for internally displaced people, where her family moved after their cattle died. She had never been given any vaccinations, and during the last polio outbreak, Faisa contracted the disease. Now she can only walk with the help of her crutches.

She attends school in the camp, a tent that shields the pupils from the elements.

“Sometimes my legs are very sore and I can't stand up,” she says. “I was the only one in my family to get sick like this, but in my school there are three of them who are sick like me. We all have to walk with sticks.”

...

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/somalia_69874.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

h/t Makoto

Somalia: Polio outbreak kills 11 people in Hiraan region
23 Jul 23, 2013 - 4:27:45 AM
BELEDWEYNE, Somalia July 23, 2013 (Garowe Online)-A polio outbreak in Somalia has claimed at killed at least 11 lives in Hiraan region of south central Somalia, Garowe Online reports.

Speaking on Puntland-based independent station Radio Garowe, the Director of Beledweyne General Hospital Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Khalif said ?four people? died of Polio virus in Beledweyne General Hospital while ?seven others? died in Moqokori town of Hiraan region due to the outbreak.

...

The scale of the polio outbreak in Somalia seems to be growing as 71 cases were reported from southern Somalia and 11 of the victims perished in Hiraan region.
...
GAROWE ONLINE

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Polio_outbreak_kills_11_people_in_Hiraan_region.shtml

[Shiloh]

Re: Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/somal...k/1712895.html


Somalia Polio Outbreak Places Ethiopia at Risk
Gabe Joselow

July 30, 2013
NAIROBI, KENYA ? Somalia?s Ministry of Health confirms there are now 94 cases of polio in south-central Somalia and the outbreak is showing no signs of slowing down. New cases of the disease near the border with Ethiopia have also put that country at risk.

The polio outbreak, first identified in May in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, is spreading throughout Somalia, according to Dr. Yassin Nur, head of immunization at Somalia?s Ministry of Health.

He said another case also has been confirmed in the autonomous region of Somaliland, close to Ethiopia, and could easily be transmitted across the border...

[Shiloh]

Re: Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201308061102.html

Somalia: Unicef Steps Up Efforts to Stop Polio Outbreak in Somalia With Help of Japanese Grant
5 August 2013

An emergency contribution from Japan will enable the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners to tackle a polio outbreak in Somalia that has already paralyzed nearly 100 children and threatens hundreds of thousands more who are not vaccinated.

UNICEF said it will be able to procure and distribute urgently needed polio vaccines, and prevent the further spread of the virus across the Horn of Africa nation and into neighbouring countries with the $1.3 million provided by the Japanese Government...

...As of July, the virus has paralyzed 95 Somali children: 94 confirmed cases in South Central Zone, which includes Mogadishu, and a case in Somaliland. Another nine cases have also been reported in the Dadaab camp in Kenya - the largest refugee complex in the world...

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Polio this week - As of 7 August 2013
...

Horn of Africa

Five new WPV1 cases were reported in the past week (all from Somalia), bringing the total number of WPV1 cases in the region to 110 (100 from Somalia and ten from Kenya). The most recent WPV1 case in the region had onset of paralysis on 10 July (from Somalia).
Two of the newly-reported cases are from Lower Shabelle, areas of which are inaccessible due to insecurity. Special strategies continue to be implemented for these areas, including increased local-level access negotiations, immunizing older age groups and setting up vaccination posts at entry/exit points of inaccessible areas.
Immunization campaigns across the Horn of Africa, including in Ethiopia and Yemen, are continuing in the second half of August.
- See more at: http://www.polioeradication.org/Data....6yLdFl7e.dpuf

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Somalia: 2013 Polio cases- spreading

Humanitarian Bulletin
Somalia
July 2013 | Issued on 15 August 2013

Health partners continue to battle polio

Outbreak of virus spreads despite mass vaccinations

The polio outbreak plaguing Somalia has spread despite significant efforts to
curb the disease. Somalia now has the worst outbreak in the world in a nonendemic country with 105 cases confirmed as of 14 August. About 10 cases of wild polio have also been confirmed in Kenya. On 18 July, the Somaliland Minister of Health confirmed the disease had reached the northern regions with a case of polio in Sool region.

Health authorities lead response activities with the support of the UN?s
Children?s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Five
campaigns have been carried out, vaccinating 4 million people. However,
access in parts of southern and central Somalia is extremely challenging ?
about 600,000 children in those areas are in need of vaccination and therefore vulnerable to the disease. The inability to fully access these areas constitute a major threat to the control of the outbreak. Since the
outbreak started in May, 105 children have suffered paralysis as a result of the virus. The
fact that this number of children show symptoms of paralysis means that there are
probably thousands more with the virus, who do not have symptoms, but are capable of
spreading it.

Special strategies continue to be implemented for hard-to-reach areas, including
increased local-level access negotiations, immunizing older age groups and setting up
vaccination posts at entry/exit points of inaccessible areas. To reduce the risk of the virus
spreading into security-compromised areas, vaccination teams have been set up at 38
cross-border and transit points with the aim of setting up teams at more than 300 points.

Key components for the outbreak response include surveillance, supplementary immunization
activities, communication and social mobilization. The existing malnutrition rates
and food insecurity increase the vulnerability of children to the disease. Water, sanitation
and hygiene partners are also looking at efforts to help stop the spread of the virus. With
poliomyelitis being a fecal-oral transmitted disease, humanitarians are looking to quickly
improve water, hygiene and sanitation to help reduce transmission. Efforts are underway
to identify potential sources of contamination and transmission through an assessment
focusing on 10 districts in Mogadishu where most of the polio cases are originating. The aim is to assess about 150 locations (50 boreholes, 50 shallow wells and 50 sets of
communal latrines) by the end of August. The next country-wide vaccination campaign is
planned from 18 to 23 August. The plan is to continue with outbreak control activities for
at least six months and reach all age groups across Somalia, where access is possible.
...

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/OCHA%20Somalia%20Humanitarian%20Bulletin%20July%202013.pdf