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.

WHO's Health Assembly opens 66th Session in Geneva

WHO's Health Assembly, the world's largest health policy-making body, opened its 66th Session today in Geneva with around 3000 participants from around the world.

21 May 2013

Viewpoints: Health law's effect on patient safety; Angelina Jolie's surgery is the ultimate 'choice'

Much of the discussion over the Affordable Care Act has focused on whether it will bring down health care costs. Less attention has been paid to another goal of the act: improving patient safety. Each year tens of thousands of people die, and hundreds of thousands more are injured, as a result of medical error (Joanna C. Schwartz, 5/16).

18 May 2013

Weekend reading: Volunteers in the battle with heart disease; Psychiatry without medication; Owning your genes

Psychiatrists who take time with their patients are not the norm. It's not because others don't care. Rather the system rewards efficiency, not empathy.

17 May 2013

India's DBT, Bharat Biotech announce positive Phase III clinical trial results of rotavirus vaccine

The Government of India's Department of Biotechnology and Bharat Biotech announced positive results from a Phase III clinical trial of a rotavirus vaccine developed and manufactured in India.

14 May 2013

Research findings may pave way to new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans

A drug developed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, known as J147, reverses memory deficits and slows Alzheimer's disease in aged mice following short-term treatment.

14 May 2013

Scientists identify TR4 protein that drives the formation of pituitary tumors in Cushing's disease

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a protein that drives the formation of pituitary tumors in Cushing's disease, a development that may give clinicians a therapeutic target to treat this potentially life-threatening disorder.

8 May 2013

New NTD Special Envoys to focus on eliminating NTD primarily on LAC region

Today, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, a major initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, announced His Excellency, President Alvaro Arz- Irigoyen of Guatemala (1996-2000), His Excellency, President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile (2000-2006) and former Pan American Health Organization Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago as the organization's newest Neglected Tropical Disease Special Envoys.

8 May 2013

With GPEI plan, polio eradication may finally be within reach

"After 25 years of remarkable achievements and sometimes harrowing setbacks, a successful conclusion to global polio eradication could finally be within reach," Nellie Bristol, a fellow with the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS, write in a CSIS commentary.

3 May 2013

IPS reports on Taliban attacks on health care facilities in Pakistan's FATA

Inter Press Service reports on Taliban-sponsored attacks on health care facilities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

3 May 2013

UNICEF, partners step up measles immunization campaign in Middle East; U.K. provides funding for WFP work in region

UNICEF and its partners "have stepped up vaccination campaigns in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey amid measles outbreaks in a region already struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of people affected by ongoing conflict in Syria," the U.N. News Centre reports (4/30).

2 May 2013

Opinion pieces address Global Vaccine Summit

Project Syndicate last week published two opinion pieces addressing the Global Vaccine Summit, held in Abu Dhabi from April 24-25, which was hosted by His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in partnership with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2 May 2013

Viewpoints: Outrage at mistaken report on Hill health coverage; Two views of Florida's option on Medicaid

Because members of Congress are accustomed to high-quality medical care provided to them through federal employee benefit programs, one might expect that they would push for top quality care to be delivered through the exchanges too.

2 May 2013

Somalia launches pentavalent vaccine with support from GAVI, UNICEF, WHO

"Coinciding with World Immunization Week, the Somali government announced on 24 April its intention to vaccinate all children under the age of one with a new five-in-one vaccine, known as a pentavalent vaccine, funded by the GAVI Alliance, with [UNICEF] and the [WHO] as implementing partners," IRIN reports.

30 Apr 2013

Blog examines role of Islamist leadership in combating polio

Noting the Global Vaccine Summit held in Abu Dhabi last week, Ayesha Malik, a campaigner at the Muslim-led campaigning charity MADE in Europe, writes in a post in the charity's blog about the role of Islamic leadership in the global push to eradicate polio.

30 Apr 2013

Upcoming symposium to offer highlights of 150-year history of Hospital for Special Surgery

An upcoming symposium will offer highlights of the 150-year history of Hospital for Special Surgery and at the same time provide a fascinating look at the evolution of medicine from the "Dark Ages" of the Civil War period to modern medicine as we know it today.

29 Apr 2013

Calcipotriol drug offers a potential treatment option for fibrotic diseases

Liver fibrosis results from an excessive accumulation of tough, fibrous scar tissue and occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. In industrialized countries, the main causes of liver injury leading to fibrosis include chronic hepatitis virus infection, excess alcohol consumption and, increasingly, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

26 Apr 2013

Bill Gates seeks additional $1.5B in donations for polio eradication efforts

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "is seeking a further $1.5 billion in donations to wipe out polio by 2018 and make it the first infectious disease eradicated since smallpox was wiped from the planet in 1979".

26 Apr 2013

GPEI presents comprehensive six-year polio eradication plan at Global Vaccine Summit

Today, at the Global Vaccine Summit, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative presented a comprehensive six-year plan, the first plan to eradicate all types of polio disease – both wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases – simultaneously.

25 Apr 2013

Donations made, agreements signed to fight polio in advance of Global Vaccine Summit

Hundreds of international health experts and leaders from the public and private sectors are gathered in Abu Dhabi Wednesday for the beginning of the first Global Vaccine Summit, which "is expected to place special emphasis on polio eradication," Gulf News reports (Zaman, 4/23).

25 Apr 2013

Political, public health leaders convene in Gulf for Global Vaccine Summit

"Political and public health leaders meeting in the Gulf this week will back a $5.5 billion plan to eradicate polio within five years, despite repeated setbacks including a recent spate of assassinations of health workers giving vaccines," the Financial Times reports.

24 Apr 2013

Polio News and Research

Further Reading

WHO's Health Assembly opens 66th Session in Geneva

Viewpoints: Health law's effect on patient safety; Angelina Jolie's surgery is the ultimate 'choice'

Weekend reading: Volunteers in the battle with heart disease; Psychiatry without medication; Owning your genes

India's DBT, Bharat Biotech announce positive Phase III clinical trial results of rotavirus vaccine

Research findings may pave way to new treatment for Alzheimer's disease in humans

Scientists identify TR4 protein that drives the formation of pituitary tumors in Cushing's disease

New NTD Special Envoys to focus on eliminating NTD primarily on LAC region

With GPEI plan, polio eradication may finally be within reach

IPS reports on Taliban attacks on health care facilities in Pakistan's FATA

UNICEF, partners step up measles immunization campaign in Middle East; U.K. provides funding for WFP work in region

Opinion pieces address Global Vaccine Summit

Viewpoints: Outrage at mistaken report on Hill health coverage; Two views of Florida's option on Medicaid

Somalia launches pentavalent vaccine with support from GAVI, UNICEF, WHO

Blog examines role of Islamist leadership in combating polio

Upcoming symposium to offer highlights of 150-year history of Hospital for Special Surgery

Calcipotriol drug offers a potential treatment option for fibrotic diseases

Bill Gates seeks additional $1.5B in donations for polio eradication efforts

GPEI presents comprehensive six-year polio eradication plan at Global Vaccine Summit

Donations made, agreements signed to fight polio in advance of Global Vaccine Summit

Political, public health leaders convene in Gulf for Global Vaccine Summit

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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