Three countries in Africa reported new polio cases this week, all involving vaccine-derived strains, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
The Central African Republic (CAR) reported five circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, its first for 2023. The patients had January and February illness onsets and are from health regions 1 and 6. The CAR's cases this year have already reached its total for all of 2022.
In Chad, officials reported two cVDPV2 cases, bringing its total for the year to four. Paralysis onsets occurred in January and February in patients from Batha and Logone Oriental provinces.
Elsewhere, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported 22 more cVDPV2 cases in patients with paralysis onsets in both 2022 and 2023, mainly from the eastern part of the country. The new cases lift the DRC's total for 2022 to 336 and the total for 2023 to 7. Also, the DRC reported 11 more circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) cases, also with paralysis onsets in both 2022 and 2023 and mainly involving patients in the country's east. The latest cases push the DRC's total for 2022 to 125 and its number for the current year to 3.