WHO Epidemiological Brief 5: Tajikistan polio outbreak and regional response

As of 20 August 2010, Tajikistan has reported 455 laboratory-confirmed cases of wild poliovirus type 1. There have been 20 deaths. The last confirmed polio case in Tajikistan had a date of onset of 4 July.  In the Russian Federation there have been 8 laboratory-confirmed cases of wild poliovirus type 1.

Four rounds of national immunization days (NIDs) in Tajikistan and three rounds in Uzbekistan had taken place. Kyrgyzstan will begin its second round of NIDs on August 23. Turkmenistan´s second round of NIDs are due to start on 26 August. Coverage was extremely high in all rounds in all countries.