Completion of national laboratory inventories for wild poliovirus containment — region of the Americas, March 2010

In May 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission globally. By 2006, transmission of indigenous WPV was eliminated in all but four countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan). In May 1999, the World Health Assembly urged member states to begin the process leading to laboratory containment of WPV. Containment of infectious and potentially infectious WPV materials after eradication is essential to minimize the risk for reintroducing WPV into poliomyelitis-free communities. The staged containment approach begins with a national survey of all biomedical facilities, which alerts facilities to the need for containment, encourages reduction of WPV materials, and develops a national inventory of facilities holding such materials (Phase I). In May 2008, the World Health Assembly reiterated the need for progress in containment and urged polio-free states to complete Phase I. This report describes completion of Phase I by the countries and territories in the World Health Organization (WHO) Region of the Americas during 2001-2010. Of 67,362 biomedical facilities, all 15,541 (23.1%) that were classified as high-risk or medium-risk facilities were surveyed. Of the remaining 51,821 (76.9%) facilities, all classified as low-risk, 44,077 (85.1%) were surveyed; sampling ranged from 12.8% to 100% among countries. After voluntary destruction of some materials during Phase I, a total of 215 facilities in nine countries of the Region of the Americas reported retaining WPV materials as of March 2010. The survey provides a facility registry for use in subsequent steps that will lead to global poliovirus containment.