Polio outbreak confirmed in Uganda
By Esther Oluka
The ministry of health has confirmed a polio outbreak in the country.
The polio viruses were established on July 21 from two samples collected on June 1st from the sewage plants of Bugolobi and Lubigi in Kampala.
The director general of health services in an August 12th statement indicated that the results confirmed a circulating vaccine derived polio virus Type 2 in Uganda.
The derived polio virus is linked to a circulating cVDPV2 lineage in Sudan.
He says the virus is classified as an orphan with 28 changes from the closest match of mutants, meaning it is likely to have been circulating in the country for two years.
Such undetected transmission suggests there are gaps in the national polio surveillance sensitivity that needs to be identified and corrected urgently.
Some of the African countries where the outbreak has been declared in the last months include; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, DRC among others.
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