Poliovirus is highly contagious and infected individuals shed virus in the faeces and from oral secretions, thus the mode of transmission is person-to-person, both via the faecal-oral and the oral-oral routes.
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 16-22 July 2023 and includes updates on avian influenza, Echovirus 11, COVID-19, West Nile virus, poliomyelitis, and botulism.
Marburg virus disease (MVD), formerly known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe disease in humans caused by Marburg marburgvirus (MARV). Although MVD is uncommon, MARV has the potential to cause epidemics with significant case fatality rates.
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).
Polio is an infectious disease mostly contracted by children. One in two hundred people develop incurable paralysis after infection. In 1955, a vaccine was invented and was introduced on a wide scale. Thanks to global efforts, polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere by 1994, and has greatly decreased worldwide.