3-year-old girl is Africa's first case of wild polio in 5 years

The girl was tested after she experienced the onset of paralysis in November last year.

The health authorities in Malawi, a country in East Africa, have raised concerns over wild poliovirus type 1 after a 3-year-old was found infected in the country’s capital city, Lilongwe - a first in Africa in over five years. The infected girl experienced the onset of paralysis on November 19, 2021, and was subsequently tested.

Africa was declared wild polio-free in August 2020 after all forms of wild polio were eliminated from the region.

“Polio case confirmed in Malawi,” tweeted World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “WHO is supporting the government to ramp up surveillance, immunization, and assess the risks of the outbreak,” he added.

Laboratory analysis has shown that the strain detected in Malawi is linked to the one circulating in Pakistan’s Sindh province. Polio continues to be endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As an imported case of infection from Pakistan, the detection does not affect the region’s wild poliovirus-free certification status, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said in a statement. The GPEI is the largest international coalition on public health aimed at eradicating polio. The initiative is led by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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The World Health Organisation’s regional director of Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, “As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world, all countries remain at risk of importation of the virus.”