Polio News and Research

RSS

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.

India's success against polio is promising step in defeating disease worldwide

"That India is free of wild polio today is a testament to the commitment of the Indian government," which "invested more than $1 billion over the last decade and collaborated with community leaders, health workers, businesses, and parents," as well as governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral agencies, to fight the disease, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes in a Foreign Affairs opinion piece.

31 Mar 2012

Disaster survivors to benefit from new agreement between Rotary International, ShelterBox

Survivors of natural disasters worldwide will benefit from a new agreement between the humanitarian service organization Rotary International and the disaster relief charity ShelterBox that leverages the strengths of both organizations to provide temporary shelters and critically needed supplies to displaced families quickly and efficiently.

31 Mar 2012

Insecurity threatening success of West, Central African mass polio vaccination campaign

Instability and insecurity in some West and Central African nations are threatening the success of a 20-country polio vaccination campaign, which aims to immunize 111.1 million children against the disease, IRIN reports.

28 Mar 2012

Pakistan's draft bill that would punish parents for not vaccinating children 'misses the mark'

"Eradicating polio and improving the health of millions of children in Pakistan depend quite heavily on assuring that all children have access to life-saving vaccines," but "the most recent policy prescription from the Pakistani parliament to improve immunization coverage, however, misses the mark, and badly," Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center, writes in this Huffington Post "World" blog post.

28 Mar 2012

Report explores expanding influence of BRICS on global health and development

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are injecting new resources, momentum and innovation into efforts to improve health in the world's poorest countries, according to a report released on the eve of the 2012 BRICS Summit. Coming as many traditional donors reduce or slow their spending, the report explores the expanding influence of the BRICS on global health and development.

27 Mar 2012

BRICS countries increasing global health, development aid, report says

As their economies grow, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- known collectively as BRICS -- "are injecting new resources, innovation and momentum into efforts to improve health in the world's poorest countries, according to a report by Global Health Strategies initiatives [GHSi]" released on Monday, Business Live reports.

27 Mar 2012

Polio eradication must be achieved or world risks rise in number of cases

In this BMJ Group blogs post, Richard Smith, editor of the BMJ until 2004 and director of the United Health Group's chronic disease initiative, examines whether efforts to eradicate polio can be successful.

23 Mar 2012

U.N.-backed campaign aims to vaccinate 111M children in 20 countries against polio over 4 days

"Some 111.1 million children below the age of five are to be vaccinated against polio in a synchronized campaign covering 20 countries in West and Central Africa starting on Friday," the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement on Wednesday, PANA reports.

23 Mar 2012

VOA News examines polio eradication efforts in Pakistan

VOA News examines polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan, where "authorities say national pride is now at stake for polio eradication and they are hoping to overcome years of setbacks from natural disasters, misinformation and war."

22 Mar 2012

Scientists create worm model of back-up telomere repair strategy

Rapidly dividing cancer cells are skilled at patching up damage that would stop normal cells in their tracks, including wear and tear of telomeres, the protective caps at the end of each chromosome.

22 Mar 2012

Suspected case of polio under investigation in India, threatens country's eradication efforts

On Monday, "a girl admitted to a hospital in West Bengal with polio-like symptoms sparked worries that India's battle against polio may not be over yet," the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog reports, noting, "The suspected polio case ... comes just two weeks after the WHO removed India from the list of countries where polio is endemic."

15 Mar 2012

Salk scientists' discovery explains how a class of chemotherapy drugs works

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell.

12 Mar 2012

Top-line results from Inviragen's INV21 Phase 1 trial on HFMD

Inviragen today reported top-line results of a placebo-controlled, randomized Phase 1 trial of INV21, the Company's highly purified virus particle vaccine against Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71.

12 Mar 2012

ScienceInsider reports on Lancet letters regarding CDC Center for Global Health

In a letter published Wednesday in the Lancet, officials from the CDC refute "point by point" three letters previously published in the journal that were critical of the agency's Center for Global Health, ScienceInsider reports.

11 Mar 2012

Bioethicist calls on Congress to protect physicians in war zones

Greater leadership is needed from the U.S. government to protect physicians and health facilities from increased attacks in armed conflict zones like Syria, experts told members of Congress in a special briefing today.

8 Mar 2012

Interaction sends letter to CIA head protesting use of vaccination plot to find Bin Laden in Pakistan

"An alliance of 200 U.S. aid groups has written to the head of the CIA to protest against its use of a doctor to help track Osama bin Laden, linking the agency's ploy to the polio crisis in Pakistan," the Guardian reports, noting Pakistan recorded the highest number of polio cases in the world last year.

5 Mar 2012

VOA examines constitutional debate in Nigeria over government's right to require polio vaccination

"A constitutional debate is under way in Nigeria over whether the government can prosecute parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated against polio, or if it has the power to force parents to have their children vaccinated against any communicable disease," VOA News reports.

3 Mar 2012

'Global leadership' through foreign assistance is 'strategic imperative' for U.S.

"[T]oday, with the national debt approaching $14.7 trillion, Americans rightly demand fiscal responsibility. Yet efforts in Congress to cut billions from the president's proposed budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are short-sighted," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

1 Mar 2012

U.N. helps kick off polio immunization campaigns in Angola, Central African Republic

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday "launched a national polio vaccination campaign in Angola, where the crippling disease has returned despite being eradicated in 2001, and praised the government for its leadership on the issue," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Feb 2012

WHO removes India from list of countries with endemic Polio

India is nearly free of deadly paralyzing viral infection polio. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says the WHO removed India from the list Saturday after the country passed one year without registering any new cases. This means only three countries with endemic polio — Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. India must pass another two years without new cases to be declared polio-free.

27 Feb 2012