Malawi Announces Detection Of Polio Cases: Imported From Pakistan, Africa's First After Five Years

Illustration of polio vaccination. (Wikimedia Commons/Staff Sgt. Stephen Schester, US Air Force)

JAKARTA - Malawi's health authorities have declared an outbreak of polio, after a case was detected in a young child in the capital Lilongwe, the first case of the polio virus in Africa in more than five years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

The WHO said in a statement laboratory analysis showed the strains detected in Malawi were related to those that have circulated in Pakistan, where polio is still endemic.

"As a case of import from Pakistan, this detection does not affect the status of wild polio virus-free certification in the African region," the WHO said.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative said the case in the southern African country occurred in a three-year-old girl who suffered an attack of paralysis in November last year.

Virus sequencing performed in February by South Africa's National Institute for Infectious Diseases and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it as wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1).

"The detection of WPV1 outside the world's two remaining endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, is a serious concern and underscores the importance of prioritizing polio immunization activities," said the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Meanwhile, the WHO said the African continent could launch a rapid response, due to high levels of polio surveillance.

"The last case of wild poliovirus in Africa was identified in northern Nigeria in 2016 and globally there will be only five cases in 2021. Each case of wild poliovirus is an important event and we will mobilize all resources to support the country's response," said Modjirom Ndoutabe, coordinator polio at the WHO regional office for Africa.

To note, polio is a highly contagious disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause complete paralysis within a few hours. Although there is no cure for polio, polio can be prevented by administering a vaccine.