Annual report of the Australian National Poliovirus Reference Laboratory, 2007

In July 2007, wild poliovirus type 1 was isolated from a patient suffering poliomyelitis in Melbourne, Australia with onset in Pakistan. The imported case of polio demonstrates the ongoing risk faced by polio-free countries until the global certification of polio eradication. The poliovirus was detected by the National Poliovirus Reference Laboratory (NPRL) for Australia; accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO). The NPRL acts as the national laboratory for the Pacific Islands, Brunei Darussalam and Papua New Guinea. Additionally, the NPRL functions as a regional reference laboratory for the WHO Western Pacific Region. The NPRL, in collaboration with the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, co-ordinates surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), a major clinical presentation of poliovirus infection. After classification of AFP cases by the Polio Expert Committee, the non-polio AFP rate for Australia in 2007 was 0.65 per 100,000 children aged less than 15 years, below the performance indicator of 1.0 per 100,000 set by the WHO. Adequate faecal sample collection totalled 48% (13/27) of eligible AFP notifications, below the 80% performance indicator recommended by the WHO. During 2007, 119 specimens were referred to the NPRL, 70 from AFP cases and 49 from other sources, including contacts of the wild poliovirus importation, all negative for poliovirus infection. Coxsackievirus A4 was isolated from 1 case and adenovirus from 2 cases. During 2007, 1313 cases of poliomyelitis due to wild poliovirus infection were reported world-wide: 1207 occurring in the 4 remaining polio endemic countries and 106 cases reported in 5 non-endemic countries.