Malawi reports first wild polio case in three decades

Bloomberg

The first wild polio virus case in 30 years has been confirmed in Malawi, sparking concern that the disease that causes paralysis could spread from the only two countries where it is endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Malawian case in the capital, Lilongwe, has been tied to a strain of the virus found in an outbreak in Pakistan’s Sindh province in 2019, the Global Polio Laboratory Network said in a statement. The samples from the three-year-old girl were collected in late November after onset of paralysis.
The detection of the virus outside the area where it is still endemic “is a serious concern and underscores the
importance of prioritising polio immunisation activities,” Global Polio said. Africa was declared polio free by the World Health Organization in 2020 with Nigeria having been the last nation on the continent where the disease had been endemic. As Malawi’s case was imported it won’t affect the region’s polio-free certification, Global Polio said.