Wild Polio Virus re-emergence in the Mediterranean

The WHO European Region has been polio-free since 2002, while in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the remaining endemic countries, where polio circulation has never been interrupted. Recent outbreaks of cases due to Wild Polio Virus (WPV) type 1 have been reported in Somalia and Yemen [1]. In the WHO African Region, Nigeria is the only polio endemic country [2]. Until recently, autochthonous poliomyelitis cases and WPV environmental isolates had not been reported by the countries of the EpiSouth Region. This however has changed since late 2012 when a non Sabin-like poliovirus type 1 was isolated from sewage in two sites in greater Cairo (Egypt). Since then, other countries in the region have reported the circulation of the virus, albeit in different contexts and with different consequences.