Today (September 1) , Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) destroyed both vaccine-derived poliovirus strains and Sabin strain types, retaining only the Sabin polio vaccine strain required for quality control. The continued use of the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system in the future for monitoring polio is key to the fulfillment of the global eradication target of total eradication of all strains of polio. 

Following the eradication of smallpox, the World Health Organization (WHO) began the promotion of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. After 30 years of effort, the goal of global eradication has nearly been reached. As of this year (2015), of the six major regions in the world, four have already achieved this goal. Taiwan belongs to the Western Pacific region of the initiative, and in 2000 the region announced that polio has been eradicated in the region. The hope is to reach the goal of global eradication by 2018. In line with the global strategy of eradication, Taiwan has worked to reduce polio cases caused from live, attenuated vaccines. Since March 2010, all vaccines have been switched to the inactivated 5-in-1 polio vaccine (DTap-IPV-Hib) and the Tdap-IPV vaccine. This ensures that attenuated vaccine-derived strains will not appear again. 

Polio is caused by the poliovirus, and is transmitted primarily through fecal-oral transmission. Infection can be detected in throat secretions 36 hours after exposure to the virus, and 72 hours later the virus can be discharged through feces. For up to 3-6 weeks, the infected person is highly contagious, with over 95% of those infected showing no obvious symptoms or no symptoms at all. Paralysis only occurs in less than 1% of infected people. However, the vaccine is effective in preventing the transmission of the virus. In order to preserve these hard-won achievements in eradicating the virus, the continued use of the acute flaccid paralysis surveillance system and environmental monitoring is essential, and this will also help with poliovirus surveillance and early warning in Taiwan. If you have any related questions, please contact the CDC at their website (http://www.cdc.gov.tw) or call the domestic toll-free epidemic report and care service line 1922 (or 0800-001922).