WILD POLIO VIRUS, TYPE 1 (WPV1) - There was one new case of WPV1 reported in Tete, Mozambique this last week, so the count increases to 20 for the year. Although it was only just reported, paralysis actually occurred on July 5th. This brings the total number of cases in Mozambique, year to date, to 5. Of particular note is assessments of Immunization rounds in Tete Province, where the case was reported, remain suboptimal. The rest of the country is showing improvements in the quality of their immunizations, round to round.

FIFTY — The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Mozambique (July 5th).
FIFTY-FIVE - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Pakistan (June 30th).

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO (7 MONTHS +) The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Afghanistan (January 14th).

TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT (9 MONTHS) - The number of days since the last case of WPV1 occurred in Malawi (November 19th, 2021).

TWENTY - The total number of cases of WPV1 that has occurred in 2022 year- to-date (1 in Afghanistan, 5 in Mozambique and 14 in Pakistan).
SIX - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2021 (1 in Pakistan, 1 in Malawi and 4 in Afghanistan).

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2020.
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX - The total number of cases of WPV1 that occurred in 2019.

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There were also 2 New Wild Positive Environmental Samples (ES’s) were reported this last week in Punjab, Pakistan, having been collected on the 4th of August. So the total, year to date, increases to 17 Positive Environmental Samples, 15 in Pakistan and 2 in Afghanistan.

CIRCULATING VACCINE-DERIVED POLIO - On our other battlefront in the war on polio, the circulating Vaccine-Derived Polio, there were 16 new cases vs. 7 the week before. 10 we’re in Yemen, 5 in Chad and one in Somalia. This brings year to date case totals to 246, compared to 254 a year ago at this time. Note that this is the first time this year that the number of cases are less then they were a year ago at this time...a positive improvement.

And finally, there were 10 Positive Environmental Samples (ES) of vaccine derived polio Type 2 reported last week, 6 of which were collected in Yemen, 2 in The Central African Republic, and one each in Djibouti and Somalia.

HERE’S AN INTERESTING STORY OF A TEAM OF TECHNICAL EXPERTS

who traveled to Afghanistan in June to review the country’s polio surveillance system, visiting 67 districts in 25 the the country’s 34 provinces. Dr. Abdinoor Mohamed, an epidemiologist with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, was one of them. It was 8 days of non-stop work...I got tired just reading about it. But his story gives me great hope that things are being done correctly in Afghanistan to beat this disease. He kept a diary of his visit and shares it with us here.

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• THE CASE OF cVDPV2 REPORTED IN ROCKLAND COUNTY, NEW YORK continues it’s news cycle with almost daily stories being published by various media outlets. Here are a few from reputable sources.

The first story is from The Optimist, the online newsletter of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is in
a Q&A format, and is a discussion with Dr. Ananda

Bandyopadhyay, Deputy Director,
Technology, Research, and Analytics
at the Gates Foundation. It starts
out with the Question, “Polio has been
detected in places it was eliminated.
Should we be worried? Click here to read the interview.