From Cayman Islands Department of Health

The Cayman Islands’ Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kiran Kumar, has issued a travel advisory urging residents travelling to Pakistan to ensure that their immunisations against polio are up to date. This follows reports of the sustained spread of three exportations of polio from Pakistan to Afghanistan since 31 July 2014.

“Although our immunization coverage against polio ranges from 95% in infancy to 99% at school entry, I urge residents who must travel to Pakistan to ensure that, –four to 12 weeks prior to travel, they receive a dose of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV)” said Dr Kumar.

He noted that: “In the Cayman Islands we have had no cases of polio since 1957 which we number among our immunisation successes. At the same time we recognise that as long as a single child remains infected with poliovirus, children in all countries are at risk of contracting the disease.

The Cayman Islands’ most senior public health official added: “The poliovirus can easily be imported into a polio-free country and can spread rapidly among unimmunised populations.”

In addition to the sustained outbreak in Pakistan, nine countries including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Syrian Arab Republic, Somalia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran, Israel and Nigeria have reported cases of polio.

International health officials say the risk of the disease spreading from these nine states is relatively low, with only two reporting new cases since 31 July. Somalia had one case while Afghanistan reported seven cases, most of which were due to imported virus.

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route. Less frequently, it spreads by means of a common vehicle such as contaminated water or food and multiplies in the intestine. From there it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.

Initial symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. In a small proportion of cases, the disease causes paralysis, which is often permanent. There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented by immunisation.

Most people infected with the poliovirus have no signs of illness and never become aware that they have been infected. These symptomless people carry the virus in their intestines and can “silently” spread the infection to thousands of others before the first case of polio paralysis emerges.

For further information contact the Public Health Department on 244-2648.END

IMAGE: web.stanford.edu