11.10.2024 – 08:15
Swiss Association of Paralyzed People ASPr-SVG / Polio.ch
Fribourg/Switzerland (ots)
New cases of polio possible in Switzerland
The situation in the Gaza Strip demonstrates this: cases of poliomyelitis can occur within a month when hygiene conditions deteriorate and vaccination coverage is insufficient.
Poliomyelitis, shortened to polio, or infantile paralysis, could also reappear in Switzerland for two reasons: too low a vaccination rate and an increased risk of importing the virus. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) is aware of this situation.
The risk of new cases of polio in Switzerland is realistic, particularly accentuated by migratory movements from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only two countries where polio is still endemic. In Afghanistan, only 76% of one-year-olds were vaccinated in 2022, and every year, cases of polio paralyze children. The virus can be carried by insufficiently protected people. Often, infected people do not have any symptoms, as the majority of infections are asymptomatic. In 2023, Switzerland recorded the highest number of asylum requests from Afghanistan (7,934 according to the State Secretariat for Migration SEM).
A 95% vaccination rate is required
To stop the spread of the virus and eradicate it, a vaccination rate of 95% is necessary among children aged 8 in Switzerland. On average, the national rate stands at 94%, but only a good third of the cantons achieve this objective. The canton of Lucerne has the lowest vaccination rate, at 89%. Viruses imported, but also circulating within the country, combined with the low vaccination rate in some regions, could infect entire areas, leading to cases of polio.
The FOPH is preparing for new cases of polio
The OFSP is aware of the risk and updated its “Poliomyelitis” action plan a month ago. This underlines “there is a significant risk of epidemic in population groups which are not sufficiently vaccinated”. According to a response to a request from polio.ch, the OFSP and the cantons are preparing for new cases.
Regions with low vaccination coverage?
Four doses of vaccine are recommended, including three during the first year of life. However, in some regions such as Appenzell Innerrhoden, only 87% of 2-year-olds have received the required three doses. Among 16-year-olds, this rate is 85% in Appenzell and 89% in Schwyz (2023). The regions of central Switzerland and the Appenzell country are the least well protected. We also observe disparities between linguistic regions and between urban and rural areas. The OFSP, which evaluates vaccination rates through cross-sectional studies at the cantonal level, explains: “It is possible that vaccination coverage in certain regions and certain groups of people is lower than the high cantonal values. In this type of “Pockets of Lower Vaccination Coverage, “chains of transmission are possible. However, the population as a whole is well protected.”
The WHO watches Switzerland with a vigilant eye
The World Health Organization’s polio representative, Oliver Rosenbauer, illustrates the danger in Switzerland: “Whenever there are gaps in vaccination coverage, there is a risk that the poliovirus will take hold in a specific region. 1993, for example, the virus was imported from India into a Dutch municipality with low vaccination coverage, resulting in the lifelong paralysis of 71 children.
The consequences of poliomyelitis and its late effects
The polio virus is extremely contagious and often destroys muscular control of the legs, sometimes of breathing, which can lead to death by asphyxiation. Although poliomyelitis is now unknown to a large part of the population and the medical profession, it is estimated that 7,000 people in Switzerland have survived polio and around 70,000 suffer from post-polio syndrome. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates the number at 20 million.
Even if the disease does not occur, it can lead to post-polio syndrome.
Because polio can have a benign course, it is still unclear how many people have actually been infected. From 1913 to 1982, 20,871 cases of illness were reported in Switzerland. For this insidious disease, however, infection cases are several times higher. Less than one percent of infected people suffer from paralysis, 5 to 10 percent from meningitis or “only” flu-like symptoms, but the infection has occurred.
Fifteen to fifty years after contracting poliomyelitis (even without being aware of it), post-polio syndrome can appear. It affects muscle groups that were severely injured and then recovered, as well as those that were apparently unaffected by acute polio. New paralysis appears, old ones reappear, accompanied, among other things, by respiratory problems.
85 years ASPr-SVG and since 1990 Swiss Community of Interest in Post-Polio Syndrome CISP
The Swiss Association of the Paralyzed was founded in 1939, when childhood paralysis (poliomyelitis) changed the lives of many children, parents and siblings throughout Switzerland within 24 hours. Months or even years of hospitalization and rehabilitation, painful separation from family and prolonged absence from school, as well as thousands of deaths, were some of the consequences of this highly contagious disease.
The ASPr-SVG|Polio.ch is, together with the CISP group (Swiss Post-Polio Syndrome Interest Community), the contact point for people suffering from polio and post-polio syndrome in Switzerland.
Direct source interviews:
We are happy to put you in contact with people affected by polio to share their experiences with the disease.
Liens: www.aspr.ch www.polio.ch Commemorative brochure ASPr-SVG 75
25 years of the Swiss Community of Interest in Post-Polio Syndrome
Vaccination Statistics 1999 – 2023 Poliomyelitis Action Plan Switzerland
Contact:
Christian Feldhausen
Communication ASPr-SVG I Polio.ch
026 322 94 35
[email protected]
et
Mario Corpataux
Central Secretary ASPr-SVG I Polio.ch
026 322 94 36
[email protected]
