DUSHANBE, May 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — As of May 19, 421 cases of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), a complication of the poliomyelitis (polio) infection, were registered in Tajikistan, of which 126 cases were confirmed as polio, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Tajikistan. So far two polio deaths have been registered.
The majority of cases have been registered in the south-west of the country, in the area bordering Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, the source at the WHO CO in Tajikistan said. Genetic sequencing has determined that the poliovirus found in Tajikistan is most closely related to virus from Uttar Pradesh, India.
As a result of the first round of a national polio immunization campaign for children under the age of 6 the number of registered cases of polio in the country has shown a certain downward tendency and we expected the number of polio cases to decrease as the immunization campaign will be progressing,” the source said.
“It is necessary to vaccinate all children under the age of six three times in order to protect them against polio,” the source said, noting that experience in outbreak interventions has shown that quick and repeated vaccination campaigns targeting children are highly effective in stopping outbreaks.
“Any actions leading to disruption of the immunization campaign for children undermine all our efforts to stabilize the situation,” the source noted.
WHO does not suggest measures such as closing schools and kindergartens because the virus is transmitted latently and it means that polio may be widely spread in society until it is detected in a form of paralysis.
“With support from WHO the Ministry of Health (MoH) closely monitors the polio outbreak situation in the country and will consider the necessity of vaccination of elder children after the successful completion of the ongoing three-round immunization campaign for children under the age of 6,” the source stressed.
WHO does not advise restrictions for international travels and trade or other measures such as quarantine in case of detection of poliovirus. However, under the standard recommendations, all citizens entering and leaving the infected areas must be vaccinated. The recommendations are in effect until the polio outbreak is fully stopped.
We will recall that the first round of the national immunization campaign for children under the age of six was conducted from May 4 to 8, the second round is being conducted from May 18 to 22, and the third round is planned for June 1-5.
Tajikistan had been certified as polio-free since 2002.
