We have identified you may not be viewing TRAVAX optimally because the browser you are using is unsupported - click here.

placeholder="Enter search term...">
Suitcase

International Measures to Stop Spread of Wild Poliovirus (Update 4)

20 August 2015

The sixth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2015) regarding the international spread of wild poliovirus in 2014-2015 was convened by the WHO Director General on 4 August 2015.

The Committee noted that good progress has been made towards the interruption of wild poliovirus transmission and an overall reduction in international spread of wild poliovirus.

The Committee acknowledged the efforts in Africa to eradicate polio, noting that no cases of wild poliovirus have been reported in Africa for almost one year.

It was also noted, however, that the international spread of wild poliovirus continues. Two new documented exportations from Afghanistan into Pakistan occurred in 2015; the most recent on 6 June 2015. Pakistan's last exportation was on 21 October 2014.

The Committee also revised their criteria to assess the period for detection of no new exportations and the period for detection of no new cases or environmental isolates of wild poliovirus:

  • If Nigeria (last case 24 July 2015) and Somalia (last case 11 August 2015) detect no further transmission of wild poliovirus in the next 1-2 months, both countries will be considered: States no longer infected by wild poliovirus, but which remain vulnerable to international spread.

The Committee agreed that the situation still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and recommended the extension of the Temporary Recommendations for a further three months to the remaining 4 wild poliovirus-affected areas:

  • Countries currently exporting wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Countries infected with wild poliovirus but not currently exporting: Nigeria and Somalia.
  • Countries no longer infected with wild poliovirus but remain vulnerable to international spread: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel and Syria.

Advice for Travellers

Travellers should be encouraged to take strict precautions with food, water and personal hygiene.

In addition, in order to comply with the WHO and ECDC recommendations and also to avoid travellers being vaccinated in the polio-infected country, authorities in the UK have made the following vaccination recommendations.

In Scotland, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) advise:

  • Travellers should receive a booster dose of a polio-containing vaccine if they have not had one in the past 12 months and are visiting one of the polio-infected or exporting countries (listed above) for longer than 4 weeks (this advice supersedes the current advice in the Green Book).
  • Travellers should acquire this additional dose within 12 months of the date they plan to leave the polio-infected country.
  • Travellers visiting one of these countries for less than 4 weeks should ensure they are up-to-date with routine polio vaccination, including 10 yearly boosters.
  • Travellers should carry proof of vaccination. In particular, for Pakistan and Afghanistan, this should be documented on the standard International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP). The ICVP is the 'Yellow Card' normally used for yellow fever vaccination.
  • In Scotland, paper ICVP’s can be obtained from HPS by contacting TRAVAX administration, email your FULL NAME and FULL POSTAL ADDRESS to: NSS.HPSTravax@nhs.net electronic copies can be downloaded from WHO

In England, Public Health England and NaTHNaC have issued advice which is different to that in Scotland (please look at NaTHNaC Clinical updates for full details).