Four countries have new polio cases this week, including Pakistan with four more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases and Angola, Nigeria, and South Sudan with vaccine-derived cases, according to the weekly report from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Also noted in the report, Spain has its first positive environmental sample, from Barcelona, and French Guiana has multiple positive environmental samples.
Pakistan now has 28 cases of WPV1 this year. The new cases all experienced paralysis onset in September, and were located in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh provinces.
In Angola, the new detection of a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case raises the year’s total to seven. Nigeria now has 61 cVDPV2 cases for 2024 after this week’s four cases, and South Sudan now has nine.
First environmental sample detected in Spain
Two countries reported environmental samples of vaccine-derived polio for the first time this week.
“One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample has been reported this week, from the Barcelona metropolitan area, Catalonia, with collection in September,” the GPEI said. “This is the first time cVDPV2 has been reported in Spain.”
This is the first time cVDPV2 has been reported in Spain.
Similarly, French Guianareported three circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3-positive environmental samples collected in Cayenne province in May, June, and August.
