Concerns about wild polio virus entering Vietnam

Therefore, the Ministry of Health has strongly directed the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Pasteur, Center for Preventive Medicine and relevant agencies to closely monitor the intrusion of wild viruses into Vietnam (if any) to promptly respond.

Polio vaccine can prevent this disease. Illustration photo

It is known that polio was recognized as eliminated in our country in 2000. Up to now, no cases of wild poliovirus infection have been recorded.

The Ministry of Health is concerned that wild polio virus could enter Vietnam as the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning about the unusual international spread of the virus.

On 28 April 2014, the WHO Director-General held a meeting with experts from the International Health Regulations 2005 Emergency Committee to update information and assess recent progress in preventing the international spread of wild poliovirus in 2014.

The Committee has warned that the international spread of polio to date is an extraordinary event and a public health risk to other countries. If not controlled, it could lead to failure in the global eradication of polio, one of the most devastating vaccine-preventable diseases.

By the end of 2013, 60% of polio cases were due to international spread of wild poliovirus, and there is growing evidence that adult travelers contribute to the spread of the disease. In 2014, international spread of wild virus was recorded from three of the 10 countries currently endemic for the disease: Central Asia (from Pakistan to Afghanistan), the Middle East (from Syria to Iraq), and Central Africa (from Cameroon to Guinea). According to the Global Polio Eradication Programme, since the beginning of the year, 68 cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded (an increase of 44 cases compared to 2013) in 10 countries (Afghanistan, Cameroon, Guinea, Ethiopia, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Syria), with Pakistan reporting the highest number of cases (54 cases).

WHO recommends that a coordinated international response is essential to prevent the international spread of wild poliovirus. For countries with active cases, the top priority is to stop domestic transmission of wild poliovirus as quickly as possible through the application of all control measures, in particular supplementary oral polio vaccine (OPV) campaigns, routine virus surveillance and vaccination.

According to Hanoi Moi Online