title: Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication - Pakistan, January 2012-September 2013.
abstract: Pakistan is one of three countries where transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus (WPV) has never been interrupted. This report describes polio eradication activities and progress in Pakistan during January 2012-September 2013 and updates previous reports. During 2012, 58 WPV cases were reported in selected areas, compared with 198 cases throughout the country in 2011; 52 WPV cases were reported during January-September 2013, compared with 54 cases during the same period in 2012. Of the 110 WPV cases reported since January 2012, 92 cases (84%) occurred in the conflict-affected Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and in security-compromised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. WPV type 3 (WPV3) was isolated from only three persons with polio in a single district in 2012; the most recent case occurred in April 2012. During August 2012-September 2013, 52 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases were detected, including 30 cases (58%) identified in FATA during January-September 2013. Approximately 350,000 children in certain districts of FATA have not received polio vaccine during supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) conducted since mid-2012 because local authorities have banned polio vaccination. In some other areas of Pakistan, SIAs have been compromised by attacks targeting polio workers that started in mid-2012. Further efforts to reach children in conflict-affected and security-compromised areas, including vaccinating at transit points and conducting additional short-interval-additional-dose (SIAD) SIAs as areas become accessible, will be necessary to prevent reintroduction of WPV into other areas of Pakistan and other parts of the world.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D060740:Disease Eradication; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011159:Population Surveillance
chemical_list: D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines