A new epidemic of a form of polio has emerged in South Sudan, South Sudan's health authorities announced Thursday (October 22nd) after declaring that the "
wild poliovirus
" (WPV) which causes the disease had been eradicated.
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Fifteen cases of "
vaccine-derived polio
" have been detected in the northwest of the country, but "
the health ministry and partners are working on it and I think (the epidemic) is under control,
" said to journalists Dr John Pasquale Romunu, director of prevention services at the South Sudanese ministry.
These “
circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses
” (cVDPV) are distinct from the “
wild
”
polioviruses
, the original pathogens of the disease now eradicated from the African continent and only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This is a rare mutation of the attenuated virus contained in the vaccine.
On August 25, South Sudan was one of the last African countries to have been confirmed that the "
wild
"
poliovirus
had been eradicated from its territory, allowing the World Health Organization (WHO) to officially declare the total eradication of polio in Africa.
But a few days later, polio had resurfaced in Sudan after having disappeared for more than a decade, according to the UN.