The Australian AFP clinical surveillance program was established
in 1995 by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing as
part of Australia's commitment to the World Health Organization's
(WHO) program for the global eradication of poliomyelitis.
For more information on the AFP Surveillance strategy:
WHO Polio Eradication Strategy
Since 2000, the AFP surveillance program has been coordinated
at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory and
is conducted in collaboration with the Australian Paediatric Surveillance
Unit (APSU). Paediatricians complete an APSU report card notifying
the number of AFP cases they have seen each month.
For more information about the APSU:
Australian
Paediatric Surveillance Unit
The WHO target for notification of AFP cases in children less
than 15 years is 1 / 100,000, which is equivalent to approximately
40 cases for Australia in 2002. A further target nominated by
WHO is for two faecal specimens to be referred for laboratory
investigation from 80% of the notified AFP cases.
AFP Specimen Referral
The referral of faecal specimens from AFP cases throughout
Australia through the clinical surveillance program facilitates
the detection of cases of poliomyelitis potentially due to vaccine
associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP), circulating vaccine-derived
poliovirus (cVDPV) or imported wild-type poliovirus.
Click here to obtain Questionnaires
for Clinical Surveillance
