Polio News and Research

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. Naturally occurring polio was eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

Aptamer Group and DeepVerge expand partnership for Optimer-enabled wastewater monitoring

Aptamer Group Ltd., the developer of Optimer® binders to enable innovation in the life science industry, is pleased to announce the expansion of its existing partnership with DeepVerge PLC.

4 Nov 2021

Malaria: An Interview with the World Health Organization

In this interview, we spoke to Dr. Akpaka Kalu, the World Health Organization's team leader for malaria in Africa, about the groundbreaking malaria vaccine rollout announcement.

28 Oct 2021

Inactivated polio vaccine induces antibodies that block SARS-CoV-2 RNA synthesis

A new study introduces the possibility that the inactivated polio vaccine can elicit antibodies that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid synthesis.

10 Oct 2021

Drought may affect child vaccination coverage in Africa, study finds

A new study published September 28 in PLOS Medicine found that drought may hinder child vaccination coverage in Africa.

30 Sep 2021

WHO emphasizes the necessity to address acute health needs in Afghanistan

We recently completed a high level mission to Kabul, Afghanistan, where we met with senior members of the Taliban leadership, UN partners, health care workers and patients, and WHO staff.

27 Sep 2021

Factors predicting vaccine hesitancy in India

A recent study discusses vaccine hesitancy in India, which is one of the most populous countries in the world.

26 Sep 2021

Penn scientists win 2021 Lasker Award for the discovery of therapeutic mRNA technology

As mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are deployed to protect hundreds of millions of people across the world and point the way to end the deadly global COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Pennsylvania scientists whose prescient discovery science effort laid the foundation for swift vaccine development have been awarded the 2021 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.

24 Sep 2021

Live oral SARS-CoV-2 vaccine provides partial protection in Rhesus Macaques

A new study describes the partial protection against respiratory infection with SARS-CoV-2 following gut inoculation with a live attenuated virus.

16 Sep 2021

Evolved SARS-CoV-2 viruses gain higher infectivity and cause more rapid infection spread

Viruses accumulate mutations as they replicate in infected cells. Repeated replication can lead to viral strains that show attenuated virulence. Such strains may act as vaccines if the attenuated virus can produce immunity without serious disease.

16 Sep 2021

Health leaders issue an urgent call for vaccine equity globally and in Africa

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and a group of global health leaders today issued an urgent call for vaccine equity globally and in Africa in particular.

14 Sep 2021

Young people aged 12 to 15 in England to be offered one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

People aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, following advice from the four UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs), the Health and Social Care Secretary has announced today (Monday 13 September).

13 Sep 2021

Experts fear rapid spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan given Taliban's hostility to vaccinations

Given the Taliban's hostility to vaccinations, WHO and medical experts fear a rapid and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan will await the formation of a new government led by the 'Islamic Scholars'.

20 Aug 2021

The newest disease detection tool for covid and beyond: Poop

Since reopening campus at the University of California-San Diego last summer, university officials have relied on the tried-and-true public health strategies of testing and contact tracing. But they have also added a new tool to their arsenal: excrement.

16 Aug 2021

Enzyme acts as a sensor to find the hiding spots of viruses

While some types of RNA viruses cloak themselves to hide inside a cell and create copies of themselves, a "detective enzyme" might be attuned to their whereabouts. A slight variation in their genomic code gives some people's cells the capacity to produce this sensor.

14 Aug 2021

Comparative scoring system suggests possibility of global COVID-19 eradication

The global eradication of COVID-19 is probably feasible, and more so than it is for polio, although considerably less so than it was for smallpox, suggests a comparative score of technical, sociopolitical, and economic factors for all three infections, published in the online journal BMJ Global Health.

10 Aug 2021

A quarter of US hospitals, and counting, demand workers get vaccinated. But not here.

Hospitals coast to coast are demanding their employees get vaccinated against covid as the highly contagious delta variant tears through populations with low vaccination rates.

10 Aug 2021

‘Wisdom and fear’ lead 90% of U.S. seniors to covid vaccines

Amid the latest surge in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations, the United States on Tuesday hit a milestone that some thought was unattainable: 90% of people 65 and older are at least partly vaccinated against the disease.

4 Aug 2021

Study sheds light on oral vaccine failure in mouse model of chronic gut disorder

A chronic gut disorder that occurs in regions with poor sanitation disrupts intestinal immune responses and impairs oral vaccine effectiveness in a mouse model of the disease, according to research led by UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists.

3 Aug 2021

Existing drug may be effective in treating SARS-CoV-2

Scientists from the University of Chicago have found that the drug masitinib may be effective in treating COVID-19.

2 Aug 2021

Multibillion dollar crusade to eradicate polio appears to have come to an end

The polio juggernaut, which has skidded past eradication deadline after deadline, seems to have finally run out of fuel, suggests an investigation published by The BMJ today.

29 Jul 2021