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.

UNICEF running out of money for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees

"The United Nations Children's Fund [on Friday] warned that it may be forced to stop humanitarian assistance to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to insufficient funds," the U.N. News Centre reports.

9 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: A doctor finds father's hospital care frightening; Politicization of science has hurt research funding

Three years ago, on a Friday afternoon, I received a frantic phone call from my mother. My active and healthy father was in the hospital with a suspected stroke. I immediately started driving to New Jersey, where they lived. I knew I had to be there to ensure that my dad would be safe. He had been taken to one of the most dangerous places in the world: a hospital. The story of my dad's three day stay in a major American teaching hospital is remarkably unremarkable (Ashish Jha, 4/5).

6 Apr 2013

Editorials discuss GPEI polio eradication plan

he Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Tuesday launched its Global Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan in Washington, D.C.

5 Apr 2013

GPEI announces 'endgame' plan to eradicate polio by 2018

"A new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018 -- if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said Tuesday," the Associated Press reports (Neergaard, 4/2).

4 Apr 2013

Salk neuroscientist applauds launch of BRAIN Initiative

Salk neuroscientist Terrence J. Sejnowski joined President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2013, at the launch of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative-a major Administration neuroscience effort that advances and builds upon collaborative scientific work by leading brain researchers such as Salk's own Sejnowski.

3 Apr 2013

Security concerns hindering polio immunizations in Pakistan, WHO official says

"Some 240,000 children have missed U.N.-backed vaccinations against polio because of security concerns in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, a top official with the World Health Organization said Friday," the Associated Press/Huffington Post reports.

2 Apr 2013

Parents, officials in Pakistan working to bring polio vaccine to areas under militant control

"Parents and officials are going to great lengths to immunize children after militants imposed a ban on polio vaccinations in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan Agency," with some parents "traveling long distances to get their children vaccinated" or "smuggling the vaccine back home," IRIN reports.

30 Mar 2013

Bill Gates tours Ghana's health system, discusses polio eradication

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "is currently in Ghana to assess the country's health systems," Ventures Africa reports. Gates "touched down in Accra March 25, 2013, and says he is in Ghana to get firsthand information on why the country's immunization system is working so well," the news service notes (3/26).

28 Mar 2013

Salk scientists discover how brain keeps track of similar but distinct memories

Ever find yourself racking your brain on a Monday morning to remember where you put your car keys? When you do find those keys, you can thank the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for storing and retrieving memories of different environments-such as that room where your keys were hiding in an unusual spot.

22 Mar 2013

Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

Decades of research and three large-scale clinical trials have so far failed to yield an effective HIV vaccine, in large part because the virus evolves so rapidly that it can evade any vaccine-induced immune response.

22 Mar 2013

Nigerian polio vaccinators face challenges but aim for eradication by 2018

The Independent reports on the challenges polio vaccinators in Nigeria face, including "the daily gauntlet of militant gangs, kidnappers, and unforgiving waters, on a mission to immunize children."

19 Mar 2013

Examining GPEI Strategic Plan to end polio

Writing in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Apoorva Mallya, a program officer for the foundation's vaccine delivery team, highlights a recent Lancet editorial examining the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's six-year Strategic Plan to end polio.

15 Mar 2013

Taliban alleged to have stopped annual polio vaccination program in rural Afghanistan

"The Taliban have halted an annual polio vaccination campaign in a remote part of Afghanistan, according to a senior official, raising concerns that opposition to the critical immunization drive could be spilling across from insurgent groups in neighboring Pakistan," the Guardian reports.

14 Mar 2013

Japan provides $2.6M to UNICEF to aid Pakistan's polio eradication program

"The Government of Japan has extended a grant of 226 million Japanese Yen (approximately US$2.62 million) to Pakistan through UNICEF for supporting the polio eradication program in Pakistan," Agence France-Presse/Dawn.com reports.

13 Mar 2013

UT Southwestern researcher to receive March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology

Dr. Eric Olson, chairman of molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, is the 2013 recipient of the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology for identifying key genetic pathways in the formation of the heart and other muscles.

11 Mar 2013

Global Vaccine Summit organizers hope to obtain increased commitments to end polio

"The Global Vaccine Summit will be held on April 24 and 25 under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and in partnership with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," The National reports.

11 Mar 2013

Salk epigenetic findings may aid in crop production and study of human diseases

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified patterns of epigenomic diversity that not only allow plants to adapt to various environments, but could also benefit crop production and the study of human diseases.

7 Mar 2013

Global Vaccine Summit to be held in Abu Dhabi from Apr. 24-25

Under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan , Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and in partnership with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki -moon and Bill Gates , co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it was announced today that a Global Vaccine Summit will be held in Abu Dhabi on April 24-25, 2013.

7 Mar 2013

Five scientists aim to make strides in predicting and preventing preterm birth

Five researchers from four states are investigating how genetics and infections interact to cause preterm birth as well as how proteins and hormones regulate a healthy pregnancy, all with the goal of giving more babies a healthy start in life, the March of Dimes announced today.

5 Mar 2013