An Outbreak of Wild Poliovirus in the Republic of Congo, 2010–2011

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Clin Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Patel, Minal K. ; Konde, Mandy Kader ; Didi-Ngossaki, Boris Hermann ; Ndinga, Edouard ; Yogolelo, Riziki ; Salla, Mbaye ; Shaba, Keith ; Everts, Johannes ; Armstrong, Gregory L. ; Daniels, Danni ; Burns, Cara ; Wassilak, Steve ; Pallansch, Mark ; Kretsinger, Katrina
• Description:
  Background
  
  The Republic of Congo has had no cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) since 2000. In October 2010, a neurologist noted an abnormal number of cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) among adults, which were later confirmed to be caused by WPV1.
  
  Methods
  
  Those presenting with AFP underwent clinical history, physical examination, and clinical specimen collection to determine if they had polio. AFP cases were classified as laboratory-confirmed, clinical, or nonpolio AFP. Epidemiologic features of the outbreak were analyzed.
  
  Results
  
  From 19 September 2010 to 22 January 2011, 445 cases of WPV1 were reported in the Republic of Congo; 390 cases were from Pointe Noire. Overall, 331 cases were among adults; 378 cases were clinically confirmed, and 64 cases were laboratory confirmed. The case-fatality ratio (CFR) was 43%. Epidemiologic characteristics differed among polio cases reported in Pointe Noire and cases reported in the rest of the Republic of Congo, including age distribution and CFR. The outbreak stopped after multiple vaccination rounds with oral poliovirus vaccine, which targeted the entire population.
  
  Conclusions
  
  This outbreak underscores the need to maintain high vaccination coverage to prevent outbreaks, the need to maintain timely high-quality surveillance to rapidly identify and respond to any potential cases before an outbreak escalates, and the need to perform ongoing risk assessments of immunity gaps in polio-free countries.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Article Chi-Square Distribution Child Child, Preschool Congo Disease Outbreaks Feces Female Humans Incidence Infant Male Middle Aged Paralysis Poliomyelitis Poliovirus Public Health Surveillance Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Clin Infect Dis. 55(10):1291-1298
• Pubmed ID:
  22911642
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4663667
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  10
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:6ee2a6b32078c68285de172df02c2847e195d10215341db28807f5260d2e2bf2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/36713/cdc_36713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 754.30 KB ]