Resistance of polio to its eradication in Pakistan

Masaud Shah,Saleha Shakeel,Zunaira Sher,Faiza Mahmood,Aleena Sumrin,Muhammad Kazim Khan,Muhammad Bilal Sarwar

doi:10.1186/1743-422x-8-457

Abstract

BackgroundThis study is based on EPI (Expanded Program on Immunization) immunization surveys and surveillance of polio, its challenges in immunization and the way forward to overcome these challenges.MethodsSeveral Government documents, survey reports and unpublished program documents were studied and online search was made to find information on EPI Pakistan. SPSS 16 and Microsoft Excel 2007 were used for the statistical analysis.ResultsImmunization against polio is higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Marked variation in vaccination has been observed in different provinces of Pakistan in the last decade. Secondly 10-20% of the children who have received their first dose of trivalent polio vaccine were deprived of their 2nd and 3rd dose because of poor performance of EPI and Lack of information about immunization.ConclusionIn spite of numerous successes, such as the addition of new vaccines and raising immunization to over 100% in some areas, EPI is still struggling to reach its polio eradication goals. Inadequate service delivery, lack of information about immunization and limited number of vaccinators were found to be the key reason for poor performance of immunization and for large number of cases reported each year due to the deficiency of second and third booster dose.

Highlights

Many epidemics are caused by poliovirus in the last three centuries
The lowest immunization results were in Baluchistan and Gilgit Baldistan with 52% and 34.6% immunization respectively
If we focus our study on the case report of polio month wise, we found that the polio increases in some months (July to November) due to environment effects, use of poor quality drinking water and unhygienic conditions resulted in previous summer

Summary

Introduction

Many epidemics are caused by poliovirus in the last three centuries. Europe and North America were the targets of Epidemic poliomyelitis in 1890s [1]. The three serotypes 1, 2, and 3 infect cells via a specific receptor, PVR (polio virus receptors): CD-155. These receptors are only present in human cell that is why humans are the only reservoirs of this virus [4]. The serological relationship is present between serotype 1 and serotype 2. This is conferred by significant protection against type 2 by the antibodies which were produced against serotype 1 [5]. This study is based on EPI (Expanded Program on Immunization) immunization surveys and surveillance of polio, its challenges in immunization and the way forward to overcome these challenges

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion