Polio Outbreaks in Burundi and Other African Nations Caused by Vaccine Strain of the Virus
The government of Burundi has declared a national public health emergency due to an outbreak of live vaccine strain poliovirus infections in that country. A mutated strain of the vaccine strain poliovirus, which originally came from the type 2 monovalent oral polio vaccine (mOPV2), was identified in a four-year-old boy in western Burundi and in two other children who came in contact with the boy. Health officials also found traces of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV2s) in five samples taken of sewage water.1 2 3 4 5 6
Similar outbreaks of OPV-derived poliovirus has occurred recently in several other countries, including Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria and Yemen, as well as in Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States.4 7 8 An Associated Press article last week noted that in recent years, “the oral polio vaccine has caused far more cases of polio than the wild polio virus.” In Africa alone, “more than 400 cases of polio last year were linked to the oral vaccine.”3
Around the world, nearly 800 children or young adults in about two dozen countries developed paralytic polio after contracting OPV-derived poliovirus.2
Seven Cases of Paralytic Polio from Gates-Funded Novel Oral Polio Vaccine Reported
Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in outbreaks of live attenuated OPV-derived poliovirus infections. In response, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), funded development of a novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2)—a genetically modified version of the existing mOPV2—which is believed more stable and less likely to cause polio than the mOPV2.2 9
The novel polio vaccine was introduced in March 2021 with the hope that it would minimize the number of OPV-derived polio outbreaks. “It’s not perfect,” said Walter Orenstein, MD of Emory University. “But given its rarity, it hopefully will be able to do the job. At least not generate lots of these kinds of outbreaks.”2
On Mar. 16, 2023, the GPEI announced it had received reports of seven cases of cVDPV2 in Burundi and the DRC linked the vaccine strain polio cases with the nOPV2. According to the statement from the GPEI, “The viruses were isolated from the stool samples of seven children with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP).”10
Chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense Brian Hooker, PhD said:
It is tragic but not unexpected that the use of live virus [oral polio] vaccines would cause the spread of vaccine-derived polio given the propensity of these viruses to back-mutate into their paralytic form. It is even more alarming that the paralytic form is now circulating among the population of the Congo’s and Burundi’s children.1
“We are disappointed. Any such outbreak is disappointing,” said Dr. Ananda Sankar Bandyopadhyay, medical epidemiologist and deputy director for technology, research, and analytics on the Gates Foundation polio team.1 2
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