Unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions in healthcare facilities (HCFs) can increase the risk of disease transmission, yet WASH coverage is inadequate in HCFs in most low-and middle-income countries. In September 2017, we conducted a baseline survey ofWASH coverage in 100 HCFs in three rural Tanzanian districts. Based on needs calculated from the baseline, we distributed handwashing and drinking water stations, soap, and chlorine solution; we repeated the survey 10 months later. The intervention improved coverage with handwashing stations (82% vs. 100%, p < 0.0001), handwashing stations with water (59% vs. 96%, p < 0.0001), handwashing stations with soap and water (19% vs. 46%, p < 0.0001), and handwashing stations with soap and water within 5 m of latrines (26% vs. 53%, p < 0.0001). Coverage of drinking water stations increased from 34% to 100% (p < 0.0001) HCFs with at least one drinking water station with free chlorine residual (FCR) > 0.2mg/ml increased from 6% to 36% (p < 0.0001), and in a sample of HCFs, detectable E. coli in stored drinking water samples decreased from 46% to 5% (p < 0.001). Although the program increased access to handwashing stations, drinking water stations, and safe drinking water in HCFs in rural Tanzania, modest increases in soap availability and water treatment highlighted persistent challenges.

The family Picornaviridae is a large and diverse group of viruses that infect humans and animals. Picornaviruses are among the most common infections of humans and cause a wide spectrum of acute human disease. This study began as an investigation of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in a small area of eastern Bolivia, where surveillance had identified a persistently high AFP rate in children. Stools were collected and diagnostic studies ruled out poliovirus. We tested stool specimens from 51 AFP cases and 34 healthy household or community contacts collected during 2002-2003 using real-time and semi-nested RT-PCR assays for enterovirus, parechovirus, cardiovirus, kobuvirus, salivirus, and cosavirus. Anecdotal reports suggested a temporal association with neurologic disease in domestic pigs, so six porcine stools were also collected and tested with the same set of assays, with the addition of an assay for porcine teschovirus. A total of 126 picornaviruses were detected in 73 of 85 human individuals, consisting of 53 different picornavirus types encompassing five genera (all except Kobuvirus). All six porcine stools contained porcine and/or human picornaviruses. No single virus, or combination of viruses, specifically correlated with AFP; however, the study revealed a surprising complexity of enteric picornaviruses in a single community.

Historical records of patients with vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) in Hungary during 1961-1981 were reviewed to assess the risk of VAPP after oral polio vaccine (OPV) administration. A confirmed VAPP case was defined as a diagnosis of paralytic poliomyelitis and residual paralysis at 60 days in a patient with an epidemiologic link to the vaccine. Archived poliovirus isolates were retested using polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the viral protein 1 capsid region. This review confirmed 46 of 47 cases previously reported as VAPP. Three cases originally linked to monovalent OPV (mOPV) 3 and one case linked to mOPV1 presented after administration of bivalent OPV 1 + 3 (bOPV). The adjusted VAPP risk per million doses administered was 0.18 for mOPV1 (2 cases/11.13 million doses), 2.96 for mOPV3 (32 cases/10.81 million doses), and 12.82 for bOPV (5 cases/390,000 doses). Absence of protection from immunization with inactivated poliovirus vaccine or exposure to OPV virus from routine immunization and recent injections could explain the higher relative risk of VAPP in Hungarian children. In polio-endemic areas in which mOPV3 and bOPV are needed to achieve eradication, the higher risk of VAPP would be offset by the high risk of paralysis due to wild poliovirus and higher per-dose efficacy of mOPV3 and bOPV compared with trivalent OPV.

BACKGROUND: On the basis of studies from developed countries, the case-fatality ratio (CFR) of poliomyelitis generally ranges from 2%-5% among children <5 years of age to 10%-30% among adults. However, little information is available for poliomyelitis-related CFR in developing countries. We conducted a study to determine the CFR in India, 1 of the 4 remaining countries with endemic wild poliovirus (WPV) circulation, during outbreaks of WPV infection during 2002 and 2006 and during the inter-epidemic years of 2003-2005. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive analysis with use of data from the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system in India. Variables analyzed included age, caregiver-reported vaccination status, date of paralysis onset, laboratory results, final case classification, and survival outcome. Our analysis also accounted for surveillance changes that occurred in 2005, impacting case definitions and final classification. RESULTS: In 2006, 45 deaths occurred among 676 WPV cases in India, yielding a CFR of 6.7%. By comparison, in 2002, there were 66 deaths among 1600 reported WPV cases (CFR, 4.2%) and during 2002-2005, CFR was 1.5%-5.2%. All 45 deaths were among 644 (95%) WPV cases in children aged <5 years (CFR, 7.0%). Among those who died, 33 (73%) were children aged <2 years (CFR, 7.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The CFR among children aged <2 years in India is high compared with previously published CFRs for young children, in part because of improved case finding through enhanced surveillance techniques. Fatal cases emphasize the lethal nature of the disease and the importance of achieving polio eradication in India.