A new but highly infectious virus has been discovered in some parts of Nairobi.
The killer virus identified as poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) has been discovered in sewage samples from the city. It was first discovered in Somalia two months ago.
Polio is a viral disease that affects the nervous system and causes irreversible paralysis within hours. Children under the age of five are at risk of contracting Polio if they are not immunized.
According to the World Health Organization, reports the Standard, children in both Kenya and Somalia are at high risk of contracting the virus though no case has been reported yet.
In a statement, WHO said that, “In Somalia, three cVDPV2s were isolated from environmental samples collected January 4 and 11, 2018, from Hamarweyn district in Banadir province (Mogadishu). These latest isolates are genetically linked to previously isolated VDPV2s from 2017, collected on 22 October and 2 November 2017 from environmental samples collected from Waberi district, Banadir province.
“In Kenya, one cVDPV2 was isolated from an environmental sample collected on March 21, 2018 from Nairobi, linked to the cVDPV2 previously confirmed in Somalia,” reads the statement in part.
WHO noted that it has stepped up response activities to alleviate the threat has alerted neighboring countries including those in the Horn of Africa to strengthen their surveillance for the poliovirus and assess the immunity of its people.
Both Kenya and Somalia conducted their last immunization campaigns with trivalent OPV in early 2016.
WHO is now investigating the origin of the virus so as to contain it. “Investigations are currently ongoing to determine the source and origin of this virus, where it initially emerged and where it moved to. However, it is clear that two countries in the Horn of Africa are currently affected, and the overriding priority is to stop this virus in the known affected areas and prevent it from spreading further,” added WHO as further quoted by the Standard.
Some of the challenges likely to hamper the fight to contain the virus is inaccessibility of children for vaccination over extended periods of time and high levels of population movement in and out of the infected regions, WHO said.
In 2015, government was in run-ins with the Catholic Church which called on Kenyans to boycott Polio vaccination stating the vaccine was unsafe.
But WHO refuted these claims noting the vaccine is manufactured and procured to the highest standards and safety.