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.

Rinderpest - fatal animal disease eradicated

Rinderpest, German for cattle plague, has finally met its match and does not exist anymore. It is the first animal disease to be eradicated and only the second disease ever, after smallpox in 1980. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared Tuesday that the world was rid of Rinderpest.

30 Jun 2011

India close to eradicating polio

"Scientists, health workers and community outreach officials in India believe they're finally on the cusp of a major milestone, the defeat of polio throughout the country," the Los Angeles Times reports.

28 Jun 2011

Developing new antipoverty vaccines may eliminate world's neglected diseases, says Sabin president

Despite significant advancements in increasing distribution and development of vaccines against childhood killer diseases - including pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type B - global efforts to reduce the burden of infection from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has greatly lagged, argues Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) President Dr. Peter Hotez in an article for the June edition of Health Affairs.

23 Jun 2011

Sanofi Pasteur establishes new vaccine research and development facility in Canada

Mark Lievonen, President of Sanofi Pasteur Limited, and Premier Dalton McGuinty today opened a $101 million dollar vaccine research and development facility at Sanofi Pasteur's Connaught Campus in north Toronto. This new facility establishes the Connaught Campus as the North American Centre of Excellence in analytical and bioprocessing R&D for Sanofi Pasteur globally.

23 Jun 2011

Do not overlook people with disabilities in HIV prevention efforts

Winstone Zulu, an adviser for AIDS-Free World and the coordinator of Health Triangle Zambia who walks with crutches because of a polio infection as a child, writes in a New York Times opinion piece that people with disabilities are rarely exposed to sex education and are almost never considered in need of information about H.I.V. and treatment for it.

21 Jun 2011

Government and private sector must work together on HIV vaccine

The success of antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS "has fooled us into believing HIV is under control. It is not. … The fact remains that no sexually acquired infection has ever been controlled in democratic societies except by vaccines," Lawrence Corey, president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and principal investigator of the international HIV Vaccine Trials Network, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

21 Jun 2011

Novartis Bexsero pivotal study data on meningococcal serogroup B presented at ESPID

New data from a pivotal study in more than 1,800 infants show that Novartis candidate vaccine Bexsero induces a robust immune response to meningococcal serogroup B when given alone or when co-administered with other routine vaccines.

15 Jun 2011

New vaccines on the horizon

In a report published in The Lancet, researchers say there is the potential to develop 20 new or improved vaccines over the next decade. They emphasize that funding is crucial - but so is trust and confidence in vaccines. It is said that AIDS and malaria vaccines as the most important areas for research. Authors further suggest that neglected tropical diseases, such as leprosy, should also be investigated.

9 Jun 2011

Bharat Biotech announces the pricing for ROTAVAC vaccine

Bharat Biotech today announced the price of ROTAVAC India’s first indigenously developed Rotavirus Vaccine. The vaccine will be sold to global public markets, Governments worldwide including UN procurement agencies at a price of US $ 1.0. Bharat Biotech hopes its new vaccine will help prevent part of the ~ 500,000 child deaths each year caused due to rotavirus diarrhea and improve access to better, affordable rotavirus vaccines.

6 Jun 2011

Obama, Medvedev reaffirm efforts to eradicate polio ahead of G8 summit

President Barack Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Deauville, France, ahead of the G8 summit, ABC News' "Political Punch" blog reports. "The two issued a number of joint statements and agreements on counterterrorism, civil aviation security, visa issues, the Bering Strait region, a joint report assessing 21st Century Missile Challenges, innovation, the rule of law, smart grid partnership, eradicating polio, and medical research," according to the blog.

27 May 2011

Nature special issue focuses on vaccines

The May 26 issue of Nature explores vaccines, which the journal says "are responsible for some of the world's greatest public health triumphs." Though new vaccines for deadly diseases have been developed in the past 10 years, and more are in development, "funding is tight, and unfounded doubts about the safety of vaccines persist." The issue features stories on polio, measles, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as issues surrounding vaccine rejection and hysteria about risk.

27 May 2011

iBioLaunch Platform successfully expresses hookworm-derived molecule for potential vaccine

iBio, Inc. today announced that its proprietary iBioLaunch Platform successfully expressed the hookworm-derived molecule known as NaAPR1M-74, which will be evaluated as a potential vaccine candidate for human hookworm disease.

26 May 2011

PBS' NewHour examines health insurance for 'urban poor' in Pakistan

PBS' NewsHour special correspondent Saima Mohsin on Monday reported from Pakistan on "an innovative health insurance plan for the urban poor." In Pakistan, 99 percent of the country's low-income population does not have health insurance, and this plan, called Naya Jeevan, "hopes to change that.

26 May 2011

Study offers hope for reducing incidence of AIDS with potential preventive vaccine

The HIV epidemic is the largest in the world and represents one of the most serious public health problems, according to data from the World Health Organization. Only 30% of the more than 10 million patients in need have the access to the antiretroviral treatment.

24 May 2011

Salk Institute researchers receive $5.5M Program Project Grant to analyze Williams syndrome

A multi-institutional team headed by Ursula Bellugi, professor and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been awarded a $5.5 million Program Project Grant by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to link social behavior to its underlying neurobiological and molecular genetic basis using Williams syndrome as a model.

21 May 2011

Bill Gates calls for greater immunization efforts in World Health Assembly address

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday called for a "Decade of Vaccines" in a keynote address at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, saying strengthening immunization programs against infectious diseases worldwide could save 10 million lives by 2020, Reuters reports.

18 May 2011

Bill Gates urges wiser vaccine coverage worldwide to save millions

Tuesday this week, Bill Gates called for strengthened immunization programs against infectious diseases to save 4 million lives by 2015 and 10 million lives by 2020, calling it the best possible investment in global health. He was addressing the annual assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, attended by health ministers from the U.N. agency's 193 member states.

17 May 2011

Study reveals crucial role of histone deacetylases in type 2 diabetes

A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease.

16 May 2011

U.S. boosts Cote d'Ivoire commitment; polio vaccine campaign delayed in country's southern region

The U.S. has pledged an additional $8.5 million to relief efforts in Cote d'Ivoire after post-election violence led to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees, Devex reports.

10 May 2011

Ben-Gurion U. researcher receives Gates Foundation grant to develop fast, low-cost malaria device

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher Alberto Bilenca, Ph.D., has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the a fast, low-cost device to accuracy diagnose malaria without the need for blood collection in field settings.

6 May 2011