Tracking Progress Toward Polio Eradication - Worldwide, 2013-2014

Global efforts to eradicate polio began in 1988 and have been successful in all but two of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions. Within these two regions (African and Eastern Mediterranean), three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan) have never interrupted transmission of wild poliovirus (WPV). Outbreaks following importation of WPV from these countries occurred in the Horn of Africa, Central Africa, and in the Middle East during 2013-2014. Here, Porter et al present 2013 and 2014 poliovirus surveillance data, focusing primary on the two WHO regions with endemic WPV transmission, and the 29 countries with at least one case of WPV or circulating VDPV reported during 2010-2014.