Zimbabwe Records 3 Polio Cases

8 months agoTue, 20 Feb 2024 14:31:52 GMT

Zimbabwe has recorded two more polio cases, bringing the number to three since the country recorded its first case in Sanyati District, Mashonaland West Province, in December last year.

As reported by NewsDay, the Polio Incident Manager in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Colline Chigodo, told reporters on Monday in Harare that the cases were detected after they carried out intense surveillance and testing in four areas in Harare suburbs. Said Chigodo:

During the course of last year, we started to detect this circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus at four sites in Harare.

The four sites where we are collecting from include Budiriro, Mbare, Sunningdale and Crowborough.
The country has been collecting these specimens for our virology lab, and these specimens are sent to South Africa.
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In December, there was one case detected, of a child with the weakness of limp, which was detected in Sanyati district.
In this case, two specimens were collected, and this specimen tested positive for circulating vaccine-derived polio virus.
This is the confirmation that now the virus is circulating among our communities.
In addition to that, during the initial investigation within these four sites, specimens were also collected from healthy children, 20 specimens from each site.
From those sites, two cases, and two healthy children tested positive. We recently received the results on Friday last week.
They tested positive on circulating vaccine-derived polio virus type 2, but these are healthy children.
Now the virus, the circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus or wild poliovirus can be asymptomatic. It means that someone can carry the virus without having that paralysis.
So out of, let’s say, 200 children if one case tested positive, it means there are about 199 asymptomatic cases, which don’t have the signs and symptoms of weakness in our communities.