Rotarians:
 
You may have seen news reports indicating that Venezuela has seen new cases of polio.  As these would be the first case in that country in thirty years, this is truly distressing news.  A link to some of these articles can be found at these links:
 
 
 
If true, this is terrible news, not only for Venezuela, but also for our efforts to eradicate polio worldwide. 
 
Please note that these cases have not yet been verified, and we do not yet know if these are outbreaks of wild polio virus (thought fully eradicated from the Americas), or some type of circulating vaccine-derived virus (cVDPV).  It is suspected that the cases must be a cVDPV, but this will be confirmed by testing results.  Either way, this outbreak illustrates the importance of maintaining full immunization world-wide until after the virus is fully eradicated. 
 
Additional news will be forthcoming, including official confirmation from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and the CDC.  As these news stories continue to circulate, please bear in mind that they represent unofficial and unconfirmed reports of outbreaks, although there is no present reason to suspect they are untrue.  As Rotarians on the front line of this fight, however, it is important that we understand the true situation.  As additional, official, results are made public, I’ll pass them on to you as soon as I receive them.
 
If you’d like additional information, or need help explaining this situation to your clubs or members, please let me know and I’ll help out as best as I’m able.