Last February, health authorities in Catalonia detected a case Polio vaccine s Sabine-like species In a 2-year-old boy who went to the emergency room in January for Respiratory infectionAnd he traveled to Pakistan in late 2023.
The Public Health Agency of Catalonia reported this case on March 25 and confirmed that “yet Epidemiological research And the procedures taken by public health in cooperation with supporting bodies, No secondary infection or community transmission occurred“.
On February 15, the sentinel network laboratory of the Information System for Infection Surveillance of Catalonia (SIVIC) of the Ministry of Health was notified of the discovery of a poliovirus vaccine, within Routine virological surveillance tasks Of respiratory viruses. The sample corresponds to a 2-year-old patient He went to the emergency room a month agoon January 15, for a picture consistent with a respiratory infection.
As a result of this infection the child He was hospitalized between January 17 and 21 Due to leukopenia in the context of influenza A. The little boy traveled with his family from From November 7th to December 19th From last year to Northeast Pakistanthe country where polio is still one Endemic disease Where mass oral vaccination campaigns are promoted.
the patient Has been properly vaccinated in Catalonia with three doses of IPV (the type of vaccine used mainly in countries where wild poliovirus has been eradicated) and did not develop neurological symptoms consistent with polio infection, including He is currently asymptomatic.
When the alert was received for this case, the samples were sent to the National Center for Microbiology and its action plan Polio eradication in Spaintaking into consideration Increased immunity in the general population. Thus, the child's close contacts and health workers who were in contact with the case were identified.
On February 20, a total of Eight samples from the case and those in contactwhich were all negative, except for the already known patient, who had one Low viral load. Another respiratory sample from a family member who went to the emergency room with the child was also studied, and the result was positive only for influenza A.
None of the contacts provided a single document Clinical condition compatible with polio The whole period there was nothing Other potential exposures And in other areas outside the family. At the same time it was collected Samples from wastewater collectors From the patient's home area, which was also negative, as were the previous and subsequent monthly samples. “For patient development and communication The follow-up is given as closed“, the same sources indicated.
Polio is one Highly contagious disease Which mainly affects children under the age of five and It causes permanent paralysis In approximately 1 in 200 cases, the mortality rate from paralysis is 2 to 10%. Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a poliovirus derived from the original contents of the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
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