WHO takes India off polio list

India, which has been polio-free for over a year now, has been taken off the list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organisation. The Health Minister announced this at the polio summit 2012 in New Delhi. There were only four countries in the WHO endemic list, including Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. The Prime Minister, while lauding the achievement, said the real credit goes to 23 lakh volunteers who repeatedly vaccinated children even in the most remote areas. He said the success of the effort shows that “team work pays”. After being removed from the list, India will have to remain polio free for the next two years to achieve the polio-free status with concerted efforts and an emergency preparedness and response plan, WHO representative in India Natela Menabde said. She said it is not just an achievement for India but a major progress for global polio eradication.

Emergence of Schmallenberg virus in Western Europe

Schmallenberg virus was first officially characterised in November 2011 in Germany from samples collected in summer/autumn 2011 from diseased dairy cattle. It was also initially detected in dairy cows and in newborn lambs in the Netherlands where the presence of the virus was confirmed in December 2011. In February 2012, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and France have reported Schmallenberg virus outbreaks to the OIE as an emerging disease.

Following the emergence of Schmallenberg virus in Western Europe, the OIE convened a meeting of experts to review existing knowledge of the new virus and provide information to its Members and to stakeholders. Identified hosts so far are cattle, sheep, goats and bisons. Based on current available information, experts concluded that the risk for human health is negligible. The experts also determined that the viraemic period (the time during which the virus circulates in the bloodstream of an infected animal) of Schmallenberg virus is short and that virus transmission most likely occurs by vectors such as mosquitoes or biting midges, with apparent similarity to the transmission of the bluetongue virus. 

Source: World Organisation for Animal Health, Paris

Final push needed to end leprosy in the Western Pacific

WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office has urged its Member States to make a final push to address leprosy in the Region. In 1991, WHO launched a global campaign to eliminate leprosy as a public health threat and set a leprosy elimination target of less than one case per 10000 of population. In that same year, the Western Pacific Region met the elimination target. Over the past two decades, new leprosy cases in the Western Pacific Region have declined by nearly 90%. Political commitment is all that is needed now to finish the job. We have the drugs and we have the knowledge, therefore WHO has urged Member States to make a final push to eliminate leprosy in the Region.

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