News Scan for Jan 21, 2015

News brief

Disney-related measles outbreak grows to 67

The national number of measles cases linked to exposure at California Disney parks has grown to 67, with 59 of the cases confirmed in California.

In a statement today, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said that, of the confirmed cases, 42 had been linked to an initial exposure in December at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim. It said the total includes 5 Disney employees and that other case-patients visited the Disney parks while they were infectious in January.

Eight other infections linked to the outbreak have been detected in other states, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

Meanwhile, the CDPH said local health departments continue to investigate possible cases and that several secondary cases have been reported. California's measles cases are from 11 different health jurisdictions, ranging in age from 7 months to 70 years.

Vaccination status is known for 34 of the cases: 28 of the patients were unvaccinated, 1 had received one dose, and 5 had received two or more vaccine doses.
Jan 21 CDPH statement
Jan 21 LA Times story

 

Polio initiatives in Nigeria and Syria show headway

Rotary International announced an $8.1 million grant to eliminate polio in Nigeria, according to a press release today from Rotary International.

Nigeria is the only African country in which polio is still endemic, and the Rotary grant will support immunization campaigns, research, and surveillance carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Nigeria's government, the group said.

Nigeria reported its highest number of global polio cases in 2012; by 2014, the country's polio cases had been reduced by 90%. The Rotary grant is expected to extend this progress and take Nigeria further toward polio elimination.

Recognizing that polio outbreaks in Nigeria have the potential to affect neighboring countries, Rotary also distributed a combined $18.5 million to polio efforts in Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, and Somalia.

In 2014, 350 cases of polio were reported globally. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is matching 2:1 every dollar committed to global polio eradication, up to $35 million annually through 2018.
Jan 21 Rotary International press release

In related news, today marks 1 year since a case of polio has been reported in Syria, according to a Jan 16 update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which is led by the WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. Syria, which had not seen a polio case since 1999, experienced an outbreak of the disease in late 2013 after civil strife led to population displacement and disruption of immunization programs.

Syria's year without polio comes on the tails of an extensive immunization campaign led by GPEI and local authorities. The campaign involved cross-border collaborations to vaccinate Syrians displaced to Lebanon and train healthcare workers to immunize and monitor a mobile population.

The recent outbreaks paralyzed 36 children in Syria and 2 children in Iraq by April 2014. Iraq has now gone 9 months without a reported case of polio.
Jan 16 GPEI update

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