WHO reports that two children aged 4 years and 10 months have contracted polio in southwestern Ukraine. None of these children were vaccinated.
Polio is back in Europe. The World Health Organization has reported two cases of polio in Ukraine. The infectious disease has affected two children aged 4 years and 10 months in the Transcarpathian region in the southwest of the country. These are the first cases of polio since 2010 in Europe, and since 1996 in Ukraine.
In his press release, the UN agency indicates that the virus caused paralysis of the two children. “None of them had also been vaccinated against polio,” says the WHO.
The return of this highly contagious infectious disease is linked to the low vaccination rate in the country since 2008. According to the latest figures from the WHO, less than one in 2 children has received all doses of the vaccine to be completely protected against the disease. poliomyelitis. “The vaccination rate in children under the age of 1 is currently only 14.1%, due to a shortage of vaccines,” adds the WHO.
600,000 vaccines delivered soon
To remedy this situation, the Ukrainian Minister of Health, Alexander Kvitashvili, declared that 600,000 vaccines will be sent to regions where the risk of contagion is known and high. According to him, this delivery will be enough to cover the needs until the end of 2015.
WHO and UNICEF are providing technical support to plan and implement large-scale supplementary immunization activities using oral polio vaccine (OPV). These targeted campaigns aim to quickly interrupt the circulation of the virus. “OPV is the most effective vaccine to stop the spread of poliovirus and ensure herd immunity,” said the WHO in its statement.
However, the WHO considers the risk of transmission in Europe to be low. In 2010, 14 cases of polio were recorded in Russia, some in the western Urals and others in the Asian part of the country. Cases mainly due to the epidemic in Tajikistan, a former member of the USSR, in Central Asia, and in Afghanistan, where polio is still rife. The epidemic had not spread to the rest of Europe.
.