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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.

Indian company plans to make lower-cost injectable polio vaccine

Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, plans to "slash the price of polio immunization and introduce shots for diarrhea and pneumonia, undercutting Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc.," Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

24 Jan 2013

Salk Institute to establish Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies has received a $42 million gift-the largest in the Institute's history-to establish the Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine (HCGM), a research center dedicated to decoding the common genetic factors underlying many complex chronic human diseases.

23 Jan 2013

Health workers resume polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan; Bill Gates discusses polio efforts in interview

"Health workers are back on the streets of Peshawar in Pakistan, defying death threats so they can vaccinate children against polio," Al Jazeera reports. "Nine of their colleagues were killed last month, and now they have been given extra security," the news service notes. "Despite the risks, many health workers say they must carry out this important task," Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid states in an accompanying video.

23 Jan 2013

New report highlights links between NTDs and socio-economic prosperity

A recently released report, entitled "Social and Economic Impact Review on Neglected Tropical Diseases," highlights links between neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and socio-economic prosperity.

19 Jan 2013

92% of voters surveyed favor U.S. support of WHO, Better World Campaign poll shows

A new poll released on Wednesday by the Better World Campaign (BWC) "found that 61 percent of voters see the WHO favorably and 92 percent say the United States should continue contributing money to the agency," The Hill's "Healthwatch" blog reports.

18 Jan 2013

WHO presents '2012 In Review' photo essay

"Key public health milestones were reached in 2012, including the end of polio transmission in India and meeting the Millennium Development Goal target on drinking water ahead of schedule," the WHO reports in a summary of a "2012 In Review" photo essay.

17 Jan 2013

CDC releases update on polio eradication efforts

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released an update on its polio eradication efforts.

16 Jan 2013

India marks two years since last diagnosed polio case

On January 13, India "completed two years since the last case of the crippling disease was reported ... a huge achievement for a country that as recently as 2009 reported 741 cases of polio -- more than any other country in the world, and almost half of cases reported globally that year," the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog reports.

16 Jan 2013

WHO recommends switching to injectable polio vaccine

"[T]his month the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, proposed a shift in [polio] vaccination strategy from oral vaccines to injected ones that may have to be administered in clinics," Nature reports, adding, "The change is needed to mop up the last remaining pockets of polio, but experts say that it poses challenges in [rural areas], which have poor access to health care."

16 Jan 2013

Polio official discusses eradication efforts in Gates Foundation blog interview

In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Eric Porterfield, director of global health communications at the United Nations Foundation, interviews Jeffrey Bates, a polio communications for development (C4D) officer, about India's efforts to eradicate polio.

16 Jan 2013

Experts blame lack of immunization coverage for Pakistan's measles outbreak

In 2012, measles "claimed the lives of more than 300 children in Pakistan," with more than 200 of those deaths from Sindh province, and health experts and the WHO are saying "the huge difference in routine immunization coverage between the provinces, districts and cities is at the root of the measles outbreak," Inter Press Service reports.

16 Jan 2013

Blog posts call for policy action condemning intelligence community's use of health campaigns

"It remains to be seen if a new surge of efforts -- a letter of protest from leading public health experts, a petition -- asking the Obama Administration to prohibit spies from pretending to be overseas aid and health workers will force a change in policy," Tom Paulson and Tom Murphy write in the Humanosphere blog.

11 Jan 2013

Pakistan re-launches polio vaccination campaign amid increased security

"Pakistan's ambassador for polio eradication, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, re-launched the anti-polio campaign in Sindh province on Tuesday," Pakistan Today reports.

11 Jan 2013

U.S. must take steps to rebuild trust broken by CIA's fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan

"The news that the Central Intelligence Agency had been running a fake vaccination program in Pakistan first surfaced in 2011 and quickly ignited fears that the covert operation could compromise the global campaign to eradicate polio," Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and Michael Klag, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, write in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece, noting a number of polio workers have been killed in the country over the last month.

9 Jan 2013

Public health school deans condemn CIA's use of fake vaccination campaign in letter to Obama

"The deans of the nation's top public health schools sent a letter to President Obama on Monday condemning the Central Intelligence Agency's use of a vaccination campaign ruse in the hunt for Osama bin Laden," the New York Times reports.

9 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: Fla. Gov. fears Medicaid expansion as Idaho, Missouri and Colorado wrestle with issue ; Few acceptable options for improving Medicare

Twenty-three states, most led by Republican officials, have declared that they will not set up their own health insurance exchanges to help individuals and small businesses find affordable coverage. ... Residents of states where political leaders seem bent on frustrating or sabotaging the health care reforms might well be better off with a federally run exchange.

8 Jan 2013

Protection of health workers necessary to eradicate polio

"The murders of charity and aid workers in Pakistan has dealt a devastating blow to a national campaign to wipe out polio and other deadly diseases," a New York Times editorial states.

8 Jan 2013

Editorial, opinion pieces address effects of health worker murders in Pakistan on polio eradication

Several news outlets published opinion pieces regarding the recent murders of polio vaccination and other aid workers in Pakistan.

7 Jan 2013

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

"The brutal assassination of nine grassroots level health workers in Pakistan, who were involved in a door-to-door immunization campaign in an attempt to secure children from crippling polio, adds an unprecedentedly grave dimension to the ongoing carnage in Pakistan," Sania Nishtar, founder of Heartfile, Heartfile Health Financing, and the recently launched Sania Nishtar Health Fund, writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post U.K.'s "Impact" blog.

4 Jan 2013

Opinion pieces, editorial address murders of polio workers in Pakistan

Several newspapers published opinion pieces regarding the recent murders of polio vaccination workers in Pakistan.

3 Jan 2013

Polio News and Research

Further Reading

Indian company plans to make lower-cost injectable polio vaccine

Salk Institute to establish Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine

Health workers resume polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan; Bill Gates discusses polio efforts in interview

New report highlights links between NTDs and socio-economic prosperity

92% of voters surveyed favor U.S. support of WHO, Better World Campaign poll shows

WHO presents '2012 In Review' photo essay

CDC releases update on polio eradication efforts

India marks two years since last diagnosed polio case

WHO recommends switching to injectable polio vaccine

Polio official discusses eradication efforts in Gates Foundation blog interview

Experts blame lack of immunization coverage for Pakistan's measles outbreak

Blog posts call for policy action condemning intelligence community's use of health campaigns

Pakistan re-launches polio vaccination campaign amid increased security

U.S. must take steps to rebuild trust broken by CIA's fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan

Public health school deans condemn CIA's use of fake vaccination campaign in letter to Obama

Viewpoints: Fla. Gov. fears Medicaid expansion as Idaho, Missouri and Colorado wrestle with issue ; Few acceptable options for improving Medicare

Protection of health workers necessary to eradicate polio

Editorial, opinion pieces address effects of health worker murders in Pakistan on polio eradication

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

Opinion pieces, editorial address murders of polio workers in Pakistan

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