Philippines polio case count is 11, country affected by both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2

By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews

In a recent situation update, UN officials report that currently, 11 human cases have been confirmed. The Philippines is affected by both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2.

cVDPV is considered a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

In addition, the three cVDPV1 cases from Sabah, Malaysia are all genetically linked to the Basilan case.

Health authorities say the current polio outbreak results from persistently low routine immunization coverage, and poor sanitation and hygiene.

Over 4.3 million children under 5 were vaccinated so far during several rounds of immunization using bivalent OPV (bOPV) against poliovirus type 1 in NCR and mOPV2 in Mindanao. One more mOPV2 round will be conducted in Mindanao targeting 3,102,973 children under 5 on 20 January-2 February 2020.

In response to the Basilan case, 13,547 children under 10 years old (102% of the target) were vaccinated in Maluso, Basilan on 30 November-8 December 2019.

Additional outbreak immunization was conducted in Zamboanga and Isabella (Region IX), Lambayong (Region XII), and Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (BARMM) for 689,273 children under 10 (93.2% of the

target) on 6-12 January 2020.

Two more rounds are planned to target the same areas and number of children on 17 February-1 March

and 23 March-4 April 2020. Further bOPV campaigns will be conducted on the same dates targeting over 3 million children under in the remaining provinces and regions of Mindanao.

In response to the increasing number of environmental samples testing positive for cVDPV2 in Manila,

two rounds of vaccination campaigns using mOPV2 will be conducted in NCR targeting 1,4 million children under 5 on 27 January-9 February and 24 February-8 March 2020.