Polio: leading virologist offers a beginner’s guide to the different viruses and vaccines
ON 17 March 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that health officials in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had detected cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus. The WHO said the Burundian government had declared the detection of the virus a national public health emergency after three cases were confirmed. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade spoke to virologist Oyewale Tomori, who maps out the terrain of polioviruses, and their mutations, as well as what’s happening on the vaccine front. Author OYEWALE TOMORI, Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Science Can you talk us through the various polioviruses? There are two types…