South Sudan confirms outbreak of vaccine-derived polio
A child is vaccinated during a launching ceremony of the five-day polio vaccination campaign in high risk counties, targeting about two million children under five years old, in Kajiado, Kenya, on July 11, 2018. (Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP)
(AFP) - Health officials in South Sudan on Thursday confirmed a new outbreak of polio, just months after declaring the wild version of the deadly virus eradicated in Africa's youngest country.
The health ministry said 15 cases of vaccine-derived polio -- a form of the illness which occurs in rare incidents when the weakened virus in the vaccine mutates -- had been identified in the country's northwest.
"Yes, there is an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio, and the Ministry of Health and its partners are working on it, and I think it is under control," the ministry's director general for preventative health services, Dr John Pasquale Romunu, told reporters.
"It has affected quite a number of counties and states."
On August 25, South Sudan was among four African nations to receive confirmation that wild poliovirus had been eradicated within their borders -- allowing the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the entire continent free of the crippling disease.
It was just the second time a deadly virus had been declared eradicated in Africa since smallpox 40 years earlier.
But the fanfare was short lived. Just two days later the UN confirmed that more than a dozen cases of vaccine-derived polio had sprung up in nine states across Sudan.
This version of the disease particularly affects countries with low immunisation rates and poor sanitation where it can transmit through contaminated water or food, health experts say.
The polio vaccine given to children contains a weakened trace of the virus, which passes through faeces and in the right conditions can spread through an under-immunised community, mutating along the way.
Mayien Machut, an undersecretary in South Sudan's health ministry, said the country's status as wild poliovirus free remained in place, but was working with the WHO to bring this vaccine-derived outbreak under control.
"We are going to contain it," he said.
An oral vaccine given to young children has been massively effective against polio around the world.
Vaccine-derived outbreaks are stopped by using the same health tactics as eradicated wild polio.
That includes the intense monitoring of populations and ensuring high vaccination coverage.
Poliomyelitis -- the medical term for polio -- is an acutely infectious and contagious virus which attacks the spinal cord and causes irreversible paralysis in children.
© Agence France-Presse
Sudan Kusini imethibitisha kuzuka kwa polio kutokana na chanjo ya polio mtoto mmoja anapatiwa chanjo wakati wa sherehe ya uzinduzi wa kampeni ya chanjo ya polio ya siku tano katika kaunti zenye hatari kubwa, ikielekeza watoto milioni mbili chini ya umri wa miaka mitano, huko Kajiado, Kenya, Julai 11, 2018. "Maafisa wa afya nchini Sudan Kusini wamethibitisha kuwa kuna ""mlipuko mpya wa polio,"" miezi michache tu baada ya kutangaza kwamba virusi hivyo vilikuwa vimepigwa marufuku katika nchi hiyo ya Afrika." Wizara ya Afya imesema visa 15 vya polio inayosababishwa na chanjo - aina ya ugonjwa ambao hutokea katika matukio nadra wakati virusi vilivyodhoofishwa katika chanjo hiyo vinabadilika - vimegunduliwa kaskazini magharibi mwa nchi hiyo. "Hata hivyo, kuna mlipuko wa polio inayotokana na chanjo, na Wizara ya Afya na washirika wake wanafanya kazi juu yake, na nadhani iko chini ya udhibiti, ""Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Wizara ya Huduma za Afya za Kuzuia, Dk John Pasquale Romunu, aliwaambia waandishi wa habari." "Imeathiri kaunti na majimbo mengi". Sudan Kusini ni moja ya nchi nne za Afrika ambazo zimepokea uthibitisho wa kwamba virusi vya polio vimepigwa marufuku katika nchi zao, na hivyo shirika la afya duniani WHO limetangaza bara hilo kuwa halina virusi hivyo. Hii ni mara ya pili kwa virusi vya kuua kuangamizwa Afrika tangu ugonjwa wa chembechembe miaka 40 iliyopita. Lakini fujo hiyo haikuendelea kwa muda mrefu. Siku mbili tu baadaye, Umoja wa Mataifa ulithibitisha kuwa zaidi ya kesi kumi na mbili za polio inayotokana na chanjo zimetokea katika majimbo tisa kote Sudan. "Hatua hii ya ugonjwa huo hasa huathiri nchi zenye viwango vya chini vya chanjo na usafi duni ambapo inaweza kuambukizwa kupitia maji au chakula kilichochafuliwa, wataalamu wa afya wanasema.""" Chanjo ya polio inayotolewa kwa watoto ina alama dhaifu ya virusi, ambayo hupita kupitia uchafu na katika hali sahihi inaweza kuenea kupitia jamii isiyo na chanjo, ikibadilika njiani. "Mwanasheria wa Wizara ya Afya ya Sudan Kusini, Mayen Machut, alisema kuwa nchi hiyo haijapata ugonjwa wa polio, lakini inashirikiana na WHO ""kuweka janga hili chini ya udhibiti.""" "Tutazuia", akasema. Chanjo ya mdomo inayotolewa kwa watoto wadogo imekuwa na ufanisi mkubwa dhidi ya polio ulimwenguni kote. Mlipuko unaosababishwa na chanjo unasimamishwa kwa kutumia mbinu zilezile za afya kama vile polio ya mwituni iliyoondolewa. Hiyo inajumuisha ufuatiliaji mkali wa idadi ya watu na kuhakikisha chanjo ya juu. Poliomyelitis (kifupi polio) ni ugonjwa wa kuambukiza ambao huathiri uti wa mgongo na kusababisha kupooza kwa watoto. © Agence France-Presse