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. 2024 May 16;73(19):441-446.
doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7319a4.

Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication - Worldwide, January 2022-December 2023

Progress Toward Poliomyelitis Eradication - Worldwide, January 2022-December 2023

Keri Geiger et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. .

Abstract

In 1988, poliomyelitis (polio) was targeted for eradication. Global efforts have led to the eradication of two of the three wild poliovirus (WPV) serotypes (types 2 and 3), with only WPV type 1 (WPV1) remaining endemic, and only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This report describes global polio immunization, surveillance activities, and poliovirus epidemiology during January 2022-December 2023, using data current as of April 10, 2024. In 2023, Afghanistan and Pakistan identified 12 total WPV1 polio cases, compared with 22 in 2022. WPV1 transmission was detected through systematic testing for poliovirus in sewage samples (environmental surveillance) in 13 provinces in Afghanistan and Pakistan, compared with seven provinces in 2022. The number of polio cases caused by circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs; circulating vaccine virus strains that have reverted to neurovirulence) decreased from 881 in 2022 to 524 in 2023; cVDPV outbreaks (defined as either a cVDPV case with evidence of circulation or at least two positive environmental surveillance isolates) occurred in 32 countries in 2023, including eight that did not experience a cVDPV outbreak in 2022. Despite reductions in paralytic polio cases from 2022, cVDPV cases and WPV1 cases (in countries with endemic transmission) were more geographically widespread in 2023. Renewed efforts to vaccinate persistently missed children in countries and territories where WPV1 transmission is endemic, strengthen routine immunization programs in countries at high risk for poliovirus transmission, and provide more effective cVDPV outbreak responses are necessary to further progress toward global polio eradication.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Figures

FIGURE
FIGURE
Wild poliovirus type 1 cases — worldwide, January 2021–December 2023 Abbreviation: WPV1 = wild poliovirus type 1.

References

    1. Lee SE, Greene SA, Burns CC, Tallis G, Wassilak SGF, Bolu O. Progress toward poliomyelitis eradication—worldwide, January 2021–March 2023. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:517–22. 10.15585/mmwr.mm7219a3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
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    1. Global Polio Eradication Initiative. GPEI strategy 2022–2026. Geneva, Switzerland: Global Polio Eradication Network; 2021. https://polioeradication.org/gpei-strategy-2022-2026

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