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.

Bill Gates answers questions on global health, other issues in Reddit 'ask me anything' discussion

"Former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates did a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) Monday and discussed several important global health issues," the Global Dispatch reports.

13 Feb 2013

Study: 17P not effective in preventing preterm birth among women with twin pregnancies

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's 33rd annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting -, researchers will report findings that suggest that 17P, a form of progesterone, is not effective in preventing preterm birth among women with twin pregnancies - and may possibly be harmful.

13 Feb 2013

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

"It's not a race, exactly, but there's an intriguing uncertainty about whether a former U.S. president or a software magnate will cause the next deliberate extinction of a species in the wild. Will Jimmy Carter eradicate Guinea worm before Bill Gates eradicates polio?" Wall Street Journal commentator Matt Ridley asks in his "Mind & Matter" column.

13 Feb 2013

Moving beyond condemnation to actions that protect health workers

"Between December and January, at least 16 polio workers were killed in Pakistan, according to Reuters -- and on Friday, nine female health workers were slain in northern Nigeria, also while working on a polio eradication campaign," Laura Hoemeke, director of communications and knowledge management at IntraHealth, writes in the organization's "Global Health Blog."

12 Feb 2013

Three North Korean doctors killed in Nigeria; Government, U.N. agencies condemn murders of polio workers

"Three North Korean doctors have been killed in a pre-dawn attack in Nigeria's northeastern town of Potiskum, police say," but "[t]he motive of Sunday's attack was not immediately clear," Al Jazeera reports.

12 Feb 2013

Nine polio workers killed in northern Nigeria

"Nine female polio vaccinators have been killed in two shootings at health centers in northern Nigeria, police have told the BBC," the news agency reports. "In the first attack in Kano the polio vaccinators were shot dead by gunmen who drove up on a motor tricycle," and "[t]hirty minutes later gunmen targeted a clinic outside Kano city as the vaccinators prepared to start work," BBC News writes.

11 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: 'Empty budget gestures'; GOP should endorse 'doomsday' sequester; 'Imagined dangers' imperil vaccine successes

President Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to put off -- again -- the start of the "sequester," a series of across-the-board spending cuts that would save $1.2 billion over 10 years.

9 Feb 2013

U.S. should issue formal ban on using vaccination campaigns as cover for intelligence operations

In an opinion piece in Bloomberg Businessweek's "Small World" blog, Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and the New America Foundation, examines the effects of "a fake polio vaccination drive organized by the CIA in an effort to collect DNA from [Osama] bin Laden's family" on polio immunization efforts in Pakistan.

5 Feb 2013

India's success in fighting polio shows what country is capable of with proper funding, accountability

"India's successful war on polio shows what can happen when its government sets clear policy goals backed with proper funding and real accountability," journalist and author Dan Morrison writes in an opinion piece in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog.

5 Feb 2013

Reduced dose of polio vaccine feasible in low-income areas

Vaccinating infants with a single fractional dose of inactivated poliovirus is an effective and more affordable alternative to using multiple full doses, report researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine.

4 Feb 2013

Study examines effects of partial dose of polio vaccine on immune response

"A partial dose of polio vaccine was as good as a full one in providing a basic level of immunity against the crippling disease, according to a study that may offer poor countries a cheap, effective way of ensuring the disease doesn't return after it's eradicated in an area," Bloomberg reports.

1 Feb 2013

On FDR's birthday, international community should honor his legacy by eradicating polio

In an opinion piece in the GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Oshinsky notes "January 30 mark[ed] the 131st birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the longest-serving American president," and "reflects on the advances in the fight against polio, one of FDR's greatest legacies."

1 Feb 2013

News outlets continue coverage of Bill Gates' speech calling for 'detailed plan' to eradicate polio

Delivering the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture in London on Tuesday, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called for a detailed plan to rid the world of polio by 2018.

1 Feb 2013

Gunmen in Pakistan kill police officer escorting polio vaccination workers

In the latest round of violence affecting health workers in Pakistan, "gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot and killed a police officer protecting polio workers during a U.N.-backed vaccination campaign in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, the police said," the Associated Press reports.

31 Jan 2013

Vaccine confidence: an interview with Dr Heidi Larson

Here at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine we are running a project called the Vaccine Confidence Project and we have a global surveillance monitoring information around the world on media, social media, all sorts of information, reports from governments, UN, other sources, looking for any what we call “signals” of public distrust or concerns that come up.

30 Jan 2013

Phenformin decreases size of lung tumors and increases survival in mice

Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally designed to treat metabolic diseases could also work against cancer.

30 Jan 2013

Polio eradication must fit into larger public health, development goals

"The tragic murders of nine anti-polio workers in Pakistan last month, followed by the New Year's Day killing of seven more local community development workers, was both a wake-up call to the global polio eradication effort in its current form, and a 'canary in the mine' regarding the deteriorating state of development and security in the country," Heidi Larson, a senior lecturer and principal investigator at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, writes in a SciDev.Net opinion piece.

29 Jan 2013

News outlets examines Bill Gates' commitment to fighting disease globally

"This week the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates" -- co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- "will deliver the annual BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture in which he will spell out his commitment to ridding the world of polio which can cause paralysis and even death within hours," BBC News reports.

29 Jan 2013

High vaccine prices ignored by ‘Decade of Vaccines’ blueprint

Governments meeting at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board (WHO EB) this week must seize the opportunity to improve serious shortcomings in the document that will drive the global community’s vaccines response in the next few years. If they fail to do so, key reasons why children continue to be missed by immunisation programmes will be left unaddressed.

25 Jan 2013

Strain of polio from Pakistan found in Egyptian sewers; vaccination drives planned

"Pakistani health officials Monday called for infants leaving the country to be issued polio vaccinations at airports after virus samples linked to a southern Pakistani city were discovered in Egypt,"

25 Jan 2013

Polio News and Research

Further Reading

Bill Gates answers questions on global health, other issues in Reddit 'ask me anything' discussion

Study: 17P not effective in preventing preterm birth among women with twin pregnancies

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

Moving beyond condemnation to actions that protect health workers

Three North Korean doctors killed in Nigeria; Government, U.N. agencies condemn murders of polio workers

Nine polio workers killed in northern Nigeria

Viewpoints: 'Empty budget gestures'; GOP should endorse 'doomsday' sequester; 'Imagined dangers' imperil vaccine successes

U.S. should issue formal ban on using vaccination campaigns as cover for intelligence operations

India's success in fighting polio shows what country is capable of with proper funding, accountability

Reduced dose of polio vaccine feasible in low-income areas

Study examines effects of partial dose of polio vaccine on immune response

On FDR's birthday, international community should honor his legacy by eradicating polio

News outlets continue coverage of Bill Gates' speech calling for 'detailed plan' to eradicate polio

Gunmen in Pakistan kill police officer escorting polio vaccination workers

Vaccine confidence: an interview with Dr Heidi Larson

Phenformin decreases size of lung tumors and increases survival in mice

Polio eradication must fit into larger public health, development goals

News outlets examines Bill Gates' commitment to fighting disease globally

High vaccine prices ignored by ‘Decade of Vaccines’ blueprint

Strain of polio from Pakistan found in Egyptian sewers; vaccination drives planned

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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