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DZaffran said it would be "pretty odd" to declare Africa polio free if children are still being paralyzed by the vaccine-derived form of the virus.
"But it would still be the case that Africa is free of wild poliovirus," he said. "I hope that the efforts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Horn of Africa will be successful, but they will not last for too long," he said.
Syria experienced an outbreak of vaccine-derived virus last year, with more than 50 cases of the disease.
"In Syria we had a pretty aggressive set of campaigns which interrupted the circulation of the disease in spite of the war. In Somalia we have children who are not accessible in some areas but I believe that we should be able to address these current outbreaks, "he said.
Roland Sutter, coordinator of WHO's polio research, policy and containment team, said that vaccine-derived polio cases were "a big concern".
But he added: "The key is achieving high immunization coverage in the affected populations just like we would with wild poliovirus."
Attacks on vaccinators, a lack of security and hampered the final eradication efforts in the last two countries reporting cases, with Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan proving particularly difficult, said Dr. Zaffran.
"Afghanistan is facing tremendous difficulties, but the country is fully committed to eradicating the disease," he said. "We need to gain access to the country. The surveillance system is extremely good, and we know how to circulate the virus.
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