Luanda, 28th June 2005 -- The Ministry of Health announced Tuesday in Luanda that one polio case has been detected in a one year old child girl living in Kikolo commune, in Cacuaco municipality, in the Luanda Province.

According to the Angolan Vice Minister for public health, Dr. José Van-Dunnem, this case was confirmed on 23th June 2005 by the laboratory of Johannesburg, South Africa, that had tested the case as positive for poliovirus.

The last polio case in Angola has been reported on September 2001, in Lunda Sul Province. The girl, who was paralyzed in the left leg, had not received 3 doses of polio vaccine. Authorities expect to confirm, within the week, whether the virus that caused this paralysis is similar to those currently circulating in other countries (an imported virus). So far in 2005, 8 other cases of paralysis have been evaluated in Luanda, and none are positive for polio

What this case of polio in Luanda means: Poliovirus is highly infectious and spreads quickly. Any Angolan child who has not received 3 doses of the polio vaccine is at risk of developing infection and paralysis. The Ministry of Health and it's partners, WHO, UNICEF, Rotary, and the CORE group of NGO's have taken the following emergency measures necessary to prevent polio from spreading in Angola

1. Strengthen epidemiological surveillance to determine if this poliovirus has spread: In the next several weeks, all health centres in Luanda, and throughout Angola will be visited public health officials to look for recent cases of paralysis in children. All health care personnel, traditional healers, and massage therapists are reminded that it is obligatory to immediately notify all new cases of paralysis in children under 15 years to the nearest health facility

2. Vaccinate all children under 5 years of age: Within the next several weeks, Ministry of Health and partners will launch a campaign to vaccinate all children under 5 years in Luanda. This will be followed quickly by the vaccination of all children under 5 years of age in the provinces. All children must be vaccinated during this vaccination campaign to ensure that polio does not spread again in Angola.

The Ministry of Health and it's partners, will provide whatever support is necessary to quickly limit the spread of this poliovirus in Angola and eradicate polio from Angola.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE:

The response to this new case of polio in Angola requires the participation of the whole society: political leaders, health workers, religious and community leaders and the population

The people:
- Take your children to health centres to be vaccinated against polio and other diseases. All children should receive 3 doses of polio vaccine before their first birthday
- Participate in National Immunization Days, even if your child has already been vaccinated.
- If you see, or hear about a case of paralysis in a child, notify the nearest health centre immediately

Doctors, nurses and other health professionals:
- When you see a child with recent paralysis, notify the reference health center immediately. Trained technicians will come to take a specimen. Do not send the patient away before a sample has been taken
- Participate in National Immunization Days
- Vaccinate all children under 1 year of age who come to your health centre, regardless of the reason for the consultation

The Media:

- Help to spread information about the need for the community to
- Notify immediately all cases of recent paralysis to health officials
- Make sure that all children receive at least 3 doses of polio vaccine, either at health centres or during National Immunization Days.

THE POLIO ERADICATION DRIVE IN ANGOLA

After a large polio epidemic in Luanda in 1999, with 1,117 cases and 113 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Partners strengthened their commitment to polio eradication in Angola. Over 20 National Immunization Days have been done, in which over 5 million children under 5 are vaccinated every year. Routine immunization and surveillance have been strengthened throughout the country. These efforts have been very successful - the last case of polio in Angola was detected in September 2001, in Lunda Sul province.

ADITIONAL INFORMATION

Poliomyelitis (polio): Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. Most people who are infected have mild fever or no symptoms at all. One per hundred infected persons develop paralysis, meaning the inability to move a limb. This sudden paralysis usually involves the legs, but may involve the arms or the whole body. The paralysis lasts forever - there is no cure for polio.

Polio mostly causes paralysis in children under 5 years old, and very rarely in adults. Between 5 and 10% of children infected with polio will die from this disease.

Vaccination against polio: Fortunately there is a safe and effective vaccine against polio. The oral polio vaccine (OPV) is given by mouth. Every child should receive the OPV at least 4 times in the first year of their life to protect them against polio. Four doses of OPV will protect a child from the paralysis of polio for life. All polio vaccination is free in Angola.

The eradication of polio: In 1988, all the countries of the world agreed to work together to eradicate polio. Eradication means that the disease will be gone forever; that polio will no longer paralyze children anywhere in the world, and that countries will no longer have to vaccinate children against polio. There are three strategies that every country must use to eradicate polio:

1. Routine vaccination: Every child should receive four doses of polio vaccine during his/her first year of life, along with other vaccines against diseases such as tetanus and measles.

2. National Immunization Days (NIDs): This refers to a period, usually three days, during which all children less than 5 years of age are vaccinated against polio. Most countries have two NIDs per year, separated by one month. During NIDs, vaccinators go house to house to vaccinate all children under 5 years of age.

Many countries use NIDs to vaccinate children who may not receive polio vaccine as part of routine vaccination.

All children under 5 should receive polio vaccine during National Immunization Days - even if they have already been vaccinated against polio. More than three doses will not harm a child.

Epidemiological Surveillance for paralysis: To determine whether polio is really eradicated, all countries must be able to detect the disease. All children under 15 years old who develop paralysis, whatever the cause, must be reported immediately to the nearest health centre. Specimens of stool are taken to determine whether the cause of the paralysis is polio or caused by something else. These specimens are sent to a specialized laboratory in Johannesburg, and results take between 20 and 30 days.

The polio eradication initiative has been extremely successful. Using the above strategies, the number of cases of polio in the world has decreased from 350.000 in 1988 to only 559 so far in 2005.

Three regions of the world, the Americas, Europe and South East Asia have already been certified as having eradicated polio. Only 6 countries in the world are considered to have continuing circulation of the poliovirus. Two of these, Nigeria and Niger, are in Africa.

The World Health Organization objective is to see the last case of polio in the world by the end of 2005. All countries must continue surveillance for paralysis until 2008, to be sure that there is no more polio in the world. If now further cases are detected, the planet will be certified polio-free in 2008, and vaccination against polio may stop.

In 2004, polio vaccination in Nigeria was temporarily stopped and this resulted in a large polio epidemic. Polio cases spread to countries that had previously eradicated polio, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and as far south as Botswana. Efforts are underway to control these epidemics, using the above strategies.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Filomena Wilson/MoH
Tel: 912333455

Dr. Fátima Valente/ EPI/MoH
Tel: 923404129

Mr. Celso Malavolonek/UNICEF
Tel: 912653016

Mr. José Caetano/WHO
Tel: 912220543