The Race to Eradicate Polio: A Global Health Priority

United States – Polio can no longer be seen in about three-quarters of the world as various organizations participated in the agenda to reduce or completely eradicate the disease from several areas of the globe for many years. However, the polio disease is still the most infectious disease in the world and it continues to infect a few countries still. Polio elimination is, therefore, the vision of the WHO and its partners in the next few years, as reported by HealthDay.

Thus, until it disappears from the face of the earth, the virus will induce epidemics in which children are not sufficiently immunized. The polio infection of an unvaccinated baby in the Gaza Strip is the first case in 27 years of poliovirus in the territory.

Polio is an illness caused by a virus that typically impacts kids aged five and below. The majority of people who are infected by polio experience few or no symptoms, but some experience fever, headaches, vomiting, and spinal stiffness. Paralysis may occur within hours if polio enters the nervous system, as indicated by the WHO. The U.N. agency has stated that while polio affects 200 people per day, one in 200 of these cases leads to paralysis of the legs. In children who become paralyzed up to 10% die if their muscles used for breathing become paralyzed.

Humans catch the virus directly from others through the mouth. It is commonly transmitted through contact with the feces of an infected individual, albeit rarely through consumption of contaminated water or food.

How bad was polio in the past?

Very bad. For many years, polio has been in existence; the archeological findings of ancient Egypt depict children using walking sticks with wasted limbs familiar with polio patients.

Polio is among the diseases that used to be feared before the first vaccine was developed in the 1950s. New York experienced a severe one in 1916, which led to more than 2000 deaths, and the highest reported influenza epidemic in the United States, which occurred in the year 1952, took the lives of more than 3000 people. Polio had very severe effects on many who contracted it; these people were left with paralyzed limbs, and deformities. Breathing muscles that may have been paralyzed needed an “iron lung” chamber in order to be able to breathe properly.

Does the eradication campaign begin?

WHO adopted a resolution to eliminate polio in 1988 after the success of eradicating smallpox eight years before. Their initial goal was set to eradicate polio by the year 2000. Along with its networks, including the U. S. CDC and other organizations such as UNICEF and Rotary International, the WHO increased the supply of an oral vaccine and strengthened the immunization program. Cases of polio reduced by more than 99 percent.

Currently, only Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to experience polio outbreaks that have never been halted. There are also cases in over a dozen other countries, most of which are in Africa. WHO and its partners are now targeting at the elimination of polio by the year 2026.

Why has it taken so long?

It’s extraordinarily difficult. To halt polio infections means ensuring at least 95% community immunity in every corner of the globe – from split nations and war zones to impoverished states with failed healthcare infrastructure and other needs.

The oral vaccine is cheaper, convenient, and more effective when it comes to preventing entire populations from being infected. But it has weakened, live polio virus, which in very, very few instances can spread and paralyze through polio in those who have not been immunized. Less frequently, the virus contained in the vaccine can turn into a new variant that can cause new disease cases.

Health authorities have been able to decrease cases of wild poliovirus more effectively. Vaccine-derived cases are now responsible for the majority of infections globally, as reported by HealthDay.

“The problem with trying to eradicate polio is that the need for perfection is so great and there are so many weak links,” said Scott Barrett, a Columbia University professor who has studied polio eradication. “The technical feasibility is there, but we live in a vastly imperfect world.”