Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 – Pakistan

Through national disease surveillance, an outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type-2 (cVDPV2) has been confirmed in Pakistan in 2019. Between 7 July and 3 November 2019, 11 children have been paralysed from cVDPV2 in Pakistan – four in Diamir district, Gilgit-Baltistan province, three in Kohistan, two in Torghar and one in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, and one in Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad. The median age for these cases was 22 months ranging from 8 to 66 months .

The virus was also isolated in stool samples from two contacts of one patient from Diamir, one contact of one patient from Torghar, as well as from 16 healthy children from Diamir, Kohistan and Rawalpindi districts. In addition, the virus was also isolated in seven environmental samples collected between 21 August and 25 October 2019 in Rawalpindi and Lahore districts, Punjab province; Diamir and Gilgit districts, Gilgit-Baltistan province; and Site Town, district West, Karachi, Sindh province.

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