Equatorial Guinea, a small country in Central Africa, has recorded its first wild poliovirus-1 (WPV-1) case since 1999, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative Wednesday.

The patient had onset of paralysis on 28 January from Centro Sur province, close to the border with Cameroon. Genetic sequencing indicates that the isolated virus is linked to transmission in Cameroon.

Concerning polio in Cameroon, one new WPV1 case was reported in the past week, with onset of paralysis on 31 January 2014, confirming continued WPV1 transmission and geographic expansion of infected areas following detection of cases in October.

This brings the total to three cases in 2014 and seven since last fall.

The confirmation of new cases in Cameroon has resulted in planning additional emergency outbreak response activities, including converting a subnational immunization campaign to a full nationwide activity in April 2014, and implementing nationwide campaigns in May and June 2014.

In the polio endemic countries, only Pakistan reported new cases in the past week.

The two cases are from Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the greater Karachi, Sindh, bringing the total number of cases for 2014 to 29.

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