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.

Widening childhood vaccination inequality in England raises concerns

Inequalities in childhood vaccination are widening in England, with uptake rates of five key vaccines consistently lower in young children living in areas of higher deprivation from 2019 to 2023, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

11 Dec 2024

How measles, whooping cough, and worse could roar back on RFK Jr.’s watch

The availability of safe, effective covid vaccines less than a year into the pandemic marked a high point in the 300-year history of vaccination, seemingly heralding an age of protection against infectious diseases.

6 Dec 2024

Scientists discover brain circuit for voluntary breathing control

Deep breath in, slow breath out… Isn't it odd that we can self-soothe by slowing down our breathing?

20 Nov 2024

New research links sphingolipids to heart disease and atherosclerosis

Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns.

19 Nov 2024

Scientists fear what’s next for public health if RFK Jr. is allowed to ‘go wild’

Many scientists at the federal health agencies await the second Donald Trump administration with dread as well as uncertainty over how the president-elect will reconcile starkly different philosophies among the leaders of his team.

14 Nov 2024

Hexavalent vaccine can reduce spread of whooping cough

Comprehensive coverage of the hexavalent vaccine can protect against whooping cough and polio, averting disease resurgence, writes Esther Nakkazi.

7 Nov 2024

Gaza completes second round of polio vaccination campaign despite conflict barriers

The second round of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip was completed yesterday, with an overall 556 774 children under the age of 10 being vaccinated with a second dose of polio vaccine, and 448 425 children between 2- to 10-years-old receiving vitamin A, following the three phases conducted in the last weeks.

6 Nov 2024

Polio vaccination campaign set to resume amidst challenges in Gaza

A third phase of the polio vaccination campaign is set to begin tomorrow in part of the northern Gaza Strip after being postponed from 23 October 2024 due to lack of access and assured, comprehensive humanitarian pauses, intense bombardment, and mass evacuation orders.

4 Nov 2024

Many polio survivors face lifelong late effects

Polio survivors facing the little-known late effects of the disease are being overlooked, writes Neena Bhandari.

23 Oct 2024

Gaza aims for 90% vaccination coverage in second round of polio campaign

The second round of an emergency polio vaccination campaign is scheduled to start on 14 October 2024 in Gaza, to vaccinate an estimated 591,700 children under ten years of age with a second dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) vaccine.

14 Oct 2024

Happening in Springfield: New immigrants offer economic promise, health system challenges

When Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance claimed Haitian immigrants had caused infectious-disease rates to "skyrocket" in Springfield, Ohio, local health commissioner Chris Cook checked the records.

10 Oct 2024

FAU researchers highlight new vaccination barriers

Vaccines to prevent common and serious infectious diseases have had a greater impact on improving human health than any other medical advance of the 20th century, surpassing even sanitation and potable water. From the global eradication of smallpox in 1980 to the unprecedented development of effective and safe mRNA vaccines for COVID-19, vaccinations have played crucial roles in preventing millions of premature deaths and hospitalizations in adults and children.

8 Oct 2024

Trump leads, and his party follows, on vaccine skepticism

More than four years ago, former President Donald Trump’s administration accelerated the development and rollout of the covid-19 vaccine.

4 Oct 2024

Time-restricted eating could offer health benefits to adults with metabolic syndrome

More than one-third of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that significantly raise a person's risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

1 Oct 2024

Advanced brain mapping reveals neuronal subtypes and their connections

Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies - monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics - to map the brain's intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.

30 Sep 2024

Wastewater monitoring proves effective for tracking foodborne pathogens

First used in the 1940s to monitor for polio, wastewater surveillance proved such a powerful disease monitoring tool that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the National Wastewater Surveillance System to support SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in September of 2020.

20 Sep 2024

As interest from families wanes, pediatricians scale back on covid shots

When pediatrician Eric Ball opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one.

4 Sep 2024

Calls for humanitarian pause to safeguard polio vaccination efforts in Gaza

Two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign are expected to be launched at the end of August and September 2024 across the Gaza Strip to prevent the spread of circulating variant type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2).

18 Aug 2024

Study reveals impact of climate change on enterovirus outbreaks

Outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which causes fever and rash in young children, typically occur in the summer months.

6 Aug 2024

Comprehensive meta-analysis offers insights into strategies for increasing immunization uptake

Vaccines are safe and effective, and help reduce death and illness. But global vaccination rates are suboptimal and have trended downward, leaving humanity more vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as COVID-19, influenza, measles, polio, and HPV.

1 Aug 2024