Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory annual report, 2014.

Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory annual report, 2014. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2017 Jun 30;41(2):E161-E180 Authors: Roberts J, Hobday L, Ibrahim A, Aitken T, Thorley B Abstract Following the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation, Australia conducts surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age as the main method to monitor its polio-free status. Cases of AFP in children are notified to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit or the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance System and faecal specimens are referred for virological investigation to the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. In 2014, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance and Australia reported 1.4 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, meeting the WHO performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system. Non-polio enteroviruses can also be associated with AFP and enterovirus A71 and echovirus types 6 and 7 were identified from clinical specimens from cases of AFP. Globally, 359 cases of polio were reported in 2014, with the 3 endemic countries, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, accounting for 95% of the cases. In May 2014, the WHO declared the international spread of wild poliovirus to be a public health emergency of international concern and has since maintained recommendations for polio vaccination of travellers from countries reporting cas...
Source: Communicable Diseases Intelligence Quarterly Report - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Commun Dis Intell Q Rep Source Type: research