Polio still a threat but eradication possible

The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that despite more than 500 new polio cases being reported worldwide this year, and the disease still posing a threat, the goal of totally eradicating it globally is still within reach.

Julie Gerberding says a polio-free world is wanted and that is possible.

Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the World Health Organization, maintains that most of this year's problem can be traced back to Nigeria suspending vaccinations for a year; by the time it resumed them 10 other countries had become infected.

But he said that going from 350,000 cases a year in the mid-1980s to a slightly more than 1,000 in 2004, and less than that so far this year, indicates that really all that is left in ending the disease is just a "clean-up job".

According to the World Health Organization, polio has been eliminated from all but six countries, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt, and the incidence of the disease has been reduced by more than 99 percent.

It is thought that travelers visiting areas where the disease is endemic are responsible for the reintroduction of it in places where it was thought to have been eradicated. The 50 cases reported recently in Indonesia, for example, may have come from a returning pilgrim.

Polio is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system, causing paralysis and in some cases death.

Lee and Gerberding were speaking at a briefing during Rotary International's annual convention.

The service club group along with the WHO, CDC and UNICEF, have for the past 10 years been working to eradicate the disease in what has been termed the largest global health initiative under way.

If no new cases are reported for three years it would be considered eradicated, as is already the case with small pox.

To accomplish the goal of eradicating polio, the groups need to raise $250 million for vaccinations this year and in 2006, Lee said.

Carlo Ravizza, Rotary Foundation trustee chairman, says they are confident they will end polio very soon, and many believe, he added, that this is the best year to accomplish the goal. But he and others at the briefing declined to name a specific date by which they hope to see it happen.