Globally, as of 9 August, 19 cases of polio due to wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and 223 cases due to circulating vaccine derived poliovirus (cVDPV) have been reported this year. In 2022, the cVDPV cases have been reported in 15 countries, with 93% of the cases attributed to cVDPV type 2 (cVDPV2).
The third meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee, held from 2-7 November 2014, regarding the international spread of wild poliovirus, states that the situation still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
The conclusions of the expert discussions on 31 July 2014 confirmed that conditions for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) continue to be met for wild poliovirus i.e. that the international spread of polio in 2014 continues to constitute an extraordinary event and a public health risk to other states for which a coordinated international response continues to be essential.
In response to the correspondence published in The Lancet, “Polio emergence in Syria and Israel endangers Europe”, ECDC replied clarifying the Centre’s recommendations to Member States.
Due to an association that was observed in the United States between a swine-flu based human influenza vaccine developed in 1976 and the disease acute polyneuropathy Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (1,2), GBS was one of the adverse events that was monitored in Europe and North America (3) following the 2009 influenza pandemic vaccination campaigns.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation, phase 1 study was performed in 60 healthy subjects between 18 and 49 years of age. The two-dose regimen induced the development of neutralizing antibodies in high percentages of the subjects (from 88% to 100% of subjects depending on antigen content)”.