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.

Longer looks: The timely trauma response in Boston; Problems with aging doctors; Transplants from donors with HIV

The bombs at the Boston Marathon were designed to maim and kill, and they did. Three people died within the first moments of the blast. More than a hundred and seventy people were injured. They had their limbs blown off, vital arteries severed, bones fractured, flesh torn open by shrapnel or scorched by the blasts' heat. Yet it now appears that every one of the wounded alive when rescuers reached them will survive.

19 Apr 2013

International community seems powerless to stop attacks on polio workers

Noting a number of attacks against polio workers in Pakistan over the past few months, Asif Saeed Memon, an associate fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, writes in a Dawn.com opinion piece, "As a response to the attacks, the governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suspended the campaign for a short period, while the United Nations removed some of its field personnel until they could receive guarantees of better security."

18 Apr 2013

Pakistani Taliban deny responsibility for attacks on polio workers

"The Pakistani Taliban on Friday denied any involvement in attacks on polio workers, which have killed 21 people since December, but confirmed it opposed the vaccination as 'un-Islamic,'" Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Apr 2013

Lessons learned from India's polio response could help country combat other diseases

"More than 400 signatories to [a scientific declaration urging the world to eradicate polio], hailing from 80 countries, believe polio eradication is achievable in large part because of the great gains India has made against the disease," T. Jacob John, a retired professor of clinical virology at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, writes in the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog.

16 Apr 2013

Pneumococcal vaccine: an interview with Graham Clarke, CEO ImmBio

The pathogen that we are talking about is called streptococcus pneumoniae. That is a fairly common bacteria and if you did a nasal swab you would find that quite a lot of people have this bacterium living in their nasal passages.

16 Apr 2013

Global commitment needed for polio eradication

"I have spent my career seeking to understand and tackling deadly viruses, from ebola to HIV. But polio stands out because, unlike these diseases, we already hold the key to its eradication: effective vaccines," Peter Piot, director and professor of global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, writes in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

15 Apr 2013

400 scientists from 80 countries sign Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

"Around 400 scientists from 80 countries have come together to declare that polio could be wiped off the face of the Earth in five years if plans to eliminate both wild and vaccine-derived polioviruses are implemented," SciDev.Net reports (Malhotra, 4/11).

15 Apr 2013

Gunman attacks police officers guarding polio vaccination team in Pakistan; One killed

"A gunman shot and killed one policeman and wounded another on Wednesday as they provided security for a team of polio eradication health workers in northwestern Pakistan, according to government officials," the New York Times reports (Masood, 4/10).

12 Apr 2013

Experts launch new strategy to eradicate polio by 2018

Hundreds of scientists, doctors and other experts from around the world launched the Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication today, declaring that an end to the paralyzing disease is achievable and endorsing a comprehensive new strategy to secure a lasting polio-free world by 2018.

12 Apr 2013

U.S. should continue its investment in global polio eradication efforts

"All Americans should take pride in the fact that the world is on the verge of eradicating polio, and finishing the job for good has never been more achievable," Tufts Health Plan President and CEO James Roosevelt writes in The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog.

10 Apr 2013

UNICEF running out of money for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees

"The United Nations Children's Fund [on Friday] warned that it may be forced to stop humanitarian assistance to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to insufficient funds," the U.N. News Centre reports.

9 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: A doctor finds father's hospital care frightening; Politicization of science has hurt research funding

Three years ago, on a Friday afternoon, I received a frantic phone call from my mother. My active and healthy father was in the hospital with a suspected stroke. I immediately started driving to New Jersey, where they lived. I knew I had to be there to ensure that my dad would be safe. He had been taken to one of the most dangerous places in the world: a hospital. The story of my dad's three day stay in a major American teaching hospital is remarkably unremarkable (Ashish Jha, 4/5).

6 Apr 2013

Editorials discuss GPEI polio eradication plan

he Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Tuesday launched its Global Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan in Washington, D.C.

5 Apr 2013

GPEI announces 'endgame' plan to eradicate polio by 2018

"A new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018 -- if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said Tuesday," the Associated Press reports (Neergaard, 4/2).

4 Apr 2013

Salk neuroscientist applauds launch of BRAIN Initiative

Salk neuroscientist Terrence J. Sejnowski joined President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2013, at the launch of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative-a major Administration neuroscience effort that advances and builds upon collaborative scientific work by leading brain researchers such as Salk's own Sejnowski.

3 Apr 2013

Security concerns hindering polio immunizations in Pakistan, WHO official says

"Some 240,000 children have missed U.N.-backed vaccinations against polio because of security concerns in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, a top official with the World Health Organization said Friday," the Associated Press/Huffington Post reports.

2 Apr 2013

Parents, officials in Pakistan working to bring polio vaccine to areas under militant control

"Parents and officials are going to great lengths to immunize children after militants imposed a ban on polio vaccinations in Pakistan's restive North Waziristan Agency," with some parents "traveling long distances to get their children vaccinated" or "smuggling the vaccine back home," IRIN reports.

30 Mar 2013

Bill Gates tours Ghana's health system, discusses polio eradication

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "is currently in Ghana to assess the country's health systems," Ventures Africa reports. Gates "touched down in Accra March 25, 2013, and says he is in Ghana to get firsthand information on why the country's immunization system is working so well," the news service notes (3/26).

28 Mar 2013

Salk scientists discover how brain keeps track of similar but distinct memories

Ever find yourself racking your brain on a Monday morning to remember where you put your car keys? When you do find those keys, you can thank the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for storing and retrieving memories of different environments-such as that room where your keys were hiding in an unusual spot.

22 Mar 2013

Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

Decades of research and three large-scale clinical trials have so far failed to yield an effective HIV vaccine, in large part because the virus evolves so rapidly that it can evade any vaccine-induced immune response.

22 Mar 2013

Polio News and Research

Further Reading

Longer looks: The timely trauma response in Boston; Problems with aging doctors; Transplants from donors with HIV

International community seems powerless to stop attacks on polio workers

Pakistani Taliban deny responsibility for attacks on polio workers

Lessons learned from India's polio response could help country combat other diseases

Pneumococcal vaccine: an interview with Graham Clarke, CEO ImmBio

Global commitment needed for polio eradication

400 scientists from 80 countries sign Scientific Declaration on Polio Eradication

Gunman attacks police officers guarding polio vaccination team in Pakistan; One killed

Experts launch new strategy to eradicate polio by 2018

U.S. should continue its investment in global polio eradication efforts

UNICEF running out of money for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees

Viewpoints: A doctor finds father's hospital care frightening; Politicization of science has hurt research funding

Editorials discuss GPEI polio eradication plan

GPEI announces 'endgame' plan to eradicate polio by 2018

Salk neuroscientist applauds launch of BRAIN Initiative

Security concerns hindering polio immunizations in Pakistan, WHO official says

Parents, officials in Pakistan working to bring polio vaccine to areas under militant control

Bill Gates tours Ghana's health system, discusses polio eradication

Salk scientists discover how brain keeps track of similar but distinct memories

Researchers develop new approach for HIV vaccine development

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