Polio in China

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDSep 21 2011

Polio has spread to China for the first time since 1999 after being imported from Pakistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed. It said a strain of polio (WPV1) found in China was genetically linked with the type now circulating in Pakistan. At least seven cases have now been confirmed in China's western Xinjiang province, which borders Pakistan.

“The WHO rates as ‘high’ the risk of further international spread of wild polio virus from Pakistan, particularly given the expected large-scale population movements associated with Umra and the upcoming Haj…in the coming months,” the WHO said in a statement.

Polio (also called poliomyelitis) is highly infectious and affects the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis. It is transmitted through contaminated food, drinking water and feces.

The Chinese authorities are now investigating the cases, and a mass vaccination campaign has been launched in the region. “So far all the right things are being done,” WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer said..

Polio was last brought into China from India in 1999. China's last indigenous case was in 1994. Pakistan is one of a handful of countries where polio remains endemic.

The UN's children fund, Unicef, has said that eradicating polio from Pakistan depends on delivering oral vaccines to each and every child, including the most vulnerable and the hardest to reach. Polio was virtually eliminated from the Western hemisphere in the 20th Century.

“The key to success will be to overcome remaining operational challenges in fully-accessible areas and implemented special outreach strategies with full community participation to increase access to populations in security-compromised areas,” WHO said. “To achieve this, full and consistent engagement and accountability at provincial, district and union-council level is urgently needed.”