Polio Cases Continue in Three Countries

According to the weekly update of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), three countries recently reported new polio cases.

In 2024, Afghanistan reported 19 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 in Kandahar province.

Cameroon reported its first two cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) from Est province this year.

In Nigeria, 53 cases of cVDPV2 were reported from Yobe province, with four new cases added recently.

Overall, two polio-endemic countries are reporting wild polio, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and 41 other countries reporting variant poliovirus.

As of September 21, 2024, the GPEI deploys two types of polio vaccines to stop virus transmission: inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and oral polio vaccine (OPV). Developing these vaccines to prevent paralytic polio was one of the major medical breakthroughs of the 20th century.

In the United States, the IPV has been offered since 2000. 

When planning a visit to a polio-risk country, the U.S. CDC suggests speaking with a travel vaccine expert at least one month before departure about prevention options.