Polio virus detected in Harare

Harare (New Ziana) – The Minister of Health and Childcare Dr Douglas Mombeshora on Thursday confirmed the discovery of a vaccine-derived type 2 polio virus in four Harare suburbs.

In an interview, he said there was no need to panic as the virus is yet to be detected in humans although health officials have set up surveillance systems to try and screen residents in the areas to see if there were any infected people.

The virus has been detected in sewers of Mufakose, Budiriro, Mbare and Crowbrough.

“We have not detected the virus in people yet, and we are currently doing our surveillance in the mentioned high density suburbs. It (the virus) has only been detected in the sewer systems,” he said.

“There is a need for the incident management system with an appointed incident manager for polio response to implement a coordinated outbreak response to quickly contain the outbreak and prevent further spread,” he said.

The vaccine-derived polio virus is a strain of polio virus mutated from the strain originally contained in Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV). OPV contains a live, weakened form of polio virus that replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies.

Although rarely fatal in humans, extreme cases can lead to stopping of excretion and death.

New Ziana