Mozambique Reports First Case Of Wild Poliovirus In 30 Years. Know What It Is, How It Transmits

As per the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wild poliovirus is a “crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system.

A child has his thumb marked after receiving a polio vaccine during a door-to-door polio immunisation campaign in Mbezi Mwisho, Dar es Salaam on May 21, 2022

Source : AFP

New Delhi: African nation Mozambique reported its first case of wild poliovirus type 1 in 30 years after a child had contracted the disease. The case marks the second imported case of wild poliovirus in southern Africa this year, after an outbreak was reported earlier this year in Malawi. 

As per the World Health Organisation, the virus is not indigenous to the region and is linked to a strain that has been circulating in Pakistan in 2019. 

What Is Wild Poliovirus?

As per the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) polio is a “crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system. Because the virus lives in the faeces (poop) of an infected person, people infected with the disease can spread it to others when they do not wash their hands well after defecating (pooping). People can also be infected if they drink water or eat food contaminated with infected faeces.” 

Wild Poliovirus: Symptoms

Most of the people who contract the poliovirus do not exhibit visible symptoms, as per the CDC, while about 1 out of 4 people show flu-like symptoms which last for 2-5 days and then start resolving on their own. The symptoms include: 

• Sore throat
• Fever 
• Tiredness 
• Nausea 
• Headache 
• Stomach pain 

Wild Poliovirus: Transmission

The poliovirus is a highly communicable disease and spreads through person to person contact. The virus after entering the body lives in the infected person’s throats and intestines. Asymptomatic people can also transmit the virus and make other people sick. CDC has enlisted the following ways in which the poliovirus can be transmitted.

• Contact with the faeces of an infected person. 
• Droplets from a sneeze or cough of an infected person which is less common. 

A person may be infected with poliovirus if they, 

• Touched minute pieces of faeces on their hand and touched their mouth. 
• Put objects contaminated with faeces in their mouth.