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International Measures to Stop Spread of Wild Poliovirus (Update 2)

23 March 2015

The fourth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2015) regarding the international spread of wild poliovirus in 2014-2015 was convened by the WHO Director General on 17 February 2015.

The Committee concluded that, although the risk of international spread from the infected countries, with the exception of Pakistan, appears to have declined, the situation still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Ethiopia and Syria are no longer infected by wild poliovirus, but are still considered vulnerable to international spread.

The Committee recommended the extension of the Temporary Recommendations for a further three months to the remaining 8 wild poliovirus-affected areas:

  • Countries currently exporting wild poliovirus: Equatorial Guinea (until 4 April) and Pakistan.
  • Countries infected with wild poliovirus but not currently exporting: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Iraq (until 19 May), Israel (until 28 April), Somalia and Nigeria.

Advice for Travellers

Travellers should be encouraged to take strict precautions with food, water and personal hygiene.

In addition, in order to comply with the WHO and ECDC recommendations and also to avoid travellers being vaccinated in the polio-infected country, authorities in the UK have made the following vaccination recommendations.

In Scotland, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) advise:

  • Travellers should receive a booster dose of a polio-containing vaccine if they have not had one in the past 12 months and are visiting one of the polio-infected or exporting countries (listed above) for longer than 4 weeks (this advice supersedes the current advice in the Green Book).
  • Travellers should acquire this additional dose within 12 months of the date they plan to leave the polio-infected country.
  • Travellers visiting one of these countries for less than 4 weeks should ensure they are up-to-date with routine polio vaccination, including 10 yearly boosters.
  • Travellers should carry proof of vaccination. In particular, for Pakistan and Equatorial Guinea, this should be documented on the standard International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP). The ICVP is the 'Yellow Card' normally used for yellow fever vaccination.
  • In Scotland, paper ICVP’s can be obtained from HPS by contacting TRAVAX administration, email your FULL NAME and FULL POSTAL ADDRESS to: NSS.HPSTravax@nhs.net electronic copies can be downloaded from WHO

In England, Public Health England and NaTHNaC have issued interim advice which is different to that in Scotland (please look at NaTHNaC Clinical updates for full details).