Uganda

Status: imported poliovirus

Uganda is one of the countries in the “wild poliovirus importation belt” – a band of countries stretching from west Africa to central Africa and the Horn of Africa, which are recurrently re-infected with poliovirus originating from northern Nigeria. The immediate priority is to stop all active outbreaks using mop-up campaigns with monovalent oral polio vaccine in the infected areas, combined with a series of large-scale, synchronized supplementary immunization activities across most of the “importation belt” countries to protect against further importations.

Strategy

Polio this week in the Horn of Africa

• In Somalia, two cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV type 2), from December 2011, have been reported. These cases are linked to cVDPV type 2 cases from March/April last year, indicating that this event is ongoing.
• Of concern is the fact that both cases are from the south and central parts of the country, affected by insecurity where access is hampered during immunization campaigns.
• Epidemiologists are now reviewing surveillance sensitivity, the quality of supplementary immunization activities, population immunity, and other epidemiologic factors in this area. They are working to understand the extent of local circulation of the virus and to develop an appropriate response plan.