In 1997, the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization adopted a resolution to eliminate measles by 2010. Of the 23 EMR member countries, 18 are polio-free and are building on this success to eliminate measles. The 5 countries where polio remains endemic are prioritizing polio eradication and working to improve measles control. Measles incidence has been reduced from 1...

Non-paralytic polio (NPP) is commonly thought to be synonymous with "abortive polio," in which the poliovirus neither entered the CNS nor damaged neurons. Described are two epidemic illness -"The Summer Grippe" and Iceland disease -apparently caused by a low virulence but neuropathic type 2 poliovirus, studies showing that neuronal lesions in the brain and spinal cord and muscle weakness were c...

The recent debate about 'effective control' rather than 'complete eradication' for polio has put the whole Global Polio Initiative into question. The implications for this are indeed daunting, more so for the Indian Sub-Continent, which hosts a huge chunk of the global polio load every year. The tremendous success achieved in combating polio during the previous decade in India and Pakistan is r...

INTRODUCTION The last case of wild polio virus transmission occurred in Akwa Ibom state in October 2001; however, combination high routine immunization coverage with OPV, high quality AFP surveillance, mass immunization campaign in which two doses of potent oral polio vaccine is administered to eligible children and mop-up campaigns in areas with identified immunization or surveillance gaps has...

In 1988, the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) resolved to interrupt wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission worldwide, and in 2012, the World Health Assembly declared the completion of global polio eradication a programmatic emergency for public health. By 2013, the annual number of WPV cases had decreased by >99% since 1988, and only three countries remained that had nev...

Poliomyelitis is an acute disease of the nervous system which can result in paralysis. The accepted dogma is that polio is a communicable disease, and that the infectious agent is the poliovirus, spreading mainly by excretion in the faeces and infection by mouth. Although much has been learned of the structure and replication of the poliovirus from in vitro studies, it has proved difficult to c...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the costs of vaccination regimens for introducing inactivated polio vaccine in routine immunization in Brazil. METHODS A cost analysis was conducted for vaccines in five vaccination regimens, including inactivated polio vaccine, compared with the oral polio vaccine-only regimen. The costs of the vaccines were estimated for routine use and for the "National Immunization Days...

OBJECTIVE To obtain information on the socioeconomic, medical, and functional status of polio survivors, and to use these results as the preliminary data for establishing the middle-aged cohort of polio survivors. METHODS The subjects were recruited based on the medical records of multiple hospitals and centers. They were assessed through a structured questionnaire over the phone. Post-poliom...

BACKGROUND The final endgame strategy of global polio eradication initiative includes switching from trivalent oral poliovirus vaccines (tOPV) to bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV), and introduction of inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). This study compares IPV with tOPV week 39 boost in Indian infants. METHODS Starting 28 March 2012, we enrolled 372 Indian infant-mother pairs from Kolkata,...

In 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate poliomyelitis by the year 2000. Although substantial progress was achieved by 2000, global polio eradication proved elusive. In India, the goal was accomplished in 2011, and the entire South-East Asia Region was certified as polio-free in 2014. The year 2016 marks the lowest wild poliovirus type 1 case count ever, the lowest number of pol...