WHO Removes China From Active Polio Outbreak List

We should note that it  is now six months since the most recent case of polio was confirmed in the fatal outbreak of WPV1 in Xinjiang, the first in the country since 2000. The World Health Organization has removed China from its list of active outbreaks. There were 21 confirmed cases in the outbreak, leaving at least 17 people paralyzed, including eight children. Two cases were fatal. A mass immunization program has been undertaken, with a fifth round of vaccinations being administered this month to all children under 15 in Xinjiang and to everyone under 40 in the five worst hit districts, Hotan in the south, where the outbreak was first reported last August, Kashgar, Aksu, Bazhou and Kezhou. The disease is thought to have arrived from Pakistan, where it is endemic and where there have been 13 confirmed cases so far this year.

More Mass Vaccinations Planned Against Polio Outbreak In Xinjiang

China is extending it campaign of mass vaccinations against polio, state media has announced. Two more rounds of vaccinations will be conducted in March and April in Xinjiang. These will be the fourth and fifth rounds following a fatal outbreak of the disease there last August, though no new cases have been reported since last October. Nearly 4 million children in Xinjiang have been vaccinated so far.

The new inoculations, as with the previous round, will be given to all children under 15 in Xinjiang and to everyone under 40 in five regions of the province. They are Hotan in the south where the outbreak was first reported, Kashgar, Aksu, Bazhou and Kezhou. The outbreak is thought to have spread into southern Xinjiang from Pakistan and India.

At least 21 cases of the disease have been confirmed, leaving at least 17 people paralyzed, including eight children. Thirteen of the 21 cases are from Hotan, six from Kashgar and one each from Aksu and Bazhou. Ten of the cases are in children under three years of age and 11 cases are in adults between 19 and 53 years old. There have been two death, according to the World Health Organization, including at least one infant.

China Conducts Third Round Of Mass Vaccinations Against Polio

China is conducting a third round of mass vaccinations in the wake of the fatal outbreak of polio in July in Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang near the border with India and Pakistan, the source of the outbreak. The vaccinations started on Nov. 15 and will take a week. They are being given to 3.8 million children in Xinjiang–all under 15 years olds in the outbreak areas and all under fives in the other parts of the province, as well as to 4.5 million 15-39 years olds in southern Xinjiang. They are the same groups that received the second round of vaccinations in late September and early October.

Preventive programs are being conducted in all provinces across the country in an effort to again rid China of polio, which had previously seen its last case in 1999. Eighteen cases of polio have been confirmed in the latest outbreak in Xinjiang, 12 in Hotan prefecture, 5 in Kashgar prefecture and 1 in Bazhou prefecture. Nine cases are children under three years of age and nine young adults between 19 and 31 years old, according to the World Health Organization. One infant has died.