Progress towards poliomyelitis eradication in Afghanistan, January 2017-May 2018

Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan remain the only countries in which transmission of endemic wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) continues.1 This report describes polio eradication activities and progress in and challenges to eradication in Afghanistan during January 2017–May 2018; it updates previous reports.2, 3 Fourteen cases of polio due to WPV1 were confirmed in Afghanistan in 2017, as compared with 13 in 2016; between January and May 2018, 8 WPV1 cases were reported, as compared with 4 during the same period in 2017. To supplement surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and laboratory testing of stool samples, testing of sewage samples (environmental surveillance) was initiated in 2013 in 20 sites, in 15 of which WPV1 circulation was detected. The number of polio-affected districts increased from 6 in 2016 to 14 in 2017 (including WPV1 cases and positive environmental samples).