Importation of wild poliovirus into Qinghai Province–China, 1999

Indigenous wild poliovirus was last isolated in China in 1994. On October 13, 1999, a case of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in a 16-month-old boy was reported to public health authorities in Xunhua Autonomous County, Haidong Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Following onset of paralysis on October 12, the boy was no longer able to stand or walk. Two stool samples, taken within 14 days of onset of paralysis, were analyzed in the Qinghai provincial laboratory and yielded poliovirus. The isolates were later differentiated as wild poliovirus type 1 at the National Poliovirus Laboratory in Beijing. Stool specimens from one of five children with whom the boy had contact yielded wild poliovirus type 1. This report describes this case of poliomyelitis and the public health response to the case in China.