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.

NPR begins series on polio eradication

NPR's "Shots" blog on Monday began a series of stories "reporting on the fight to eradicate the last few pockets of polio," which begins "with a look back at how the U.S. and the rest of the world wiped out the virus for good."

17 Oct 2012

Leading scientists select first drugs to be evaluated in Alzheimer's clinical study

Leading scientists have selected the first drugs to be evaluated in a worldwide clinical study to determine whether they can prevent Alzheimer's disease.

11 Oct 2012

Polio vaccination campaign in Darfur shows immunizations possible in 'emergency and conflict settings'

In an Inter Press Service opinion piece, Siddharth Chatterjee, chief diplomat and head of strategic partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Sam Agbo, an independent public health adviser in the U.K., write about the unstable situation in Darfur, Sudan, in 2004, and how "UNICEF and WHO in Sudan along with important NGO partners started planning with local authorities on how best to immunize all children in Darfur."

9 Oct 2012

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health epidemiologist receives Dean's Medal honor

Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has awarded the Dean's Medal-the School's highest honor-to William Foege, MD, MPH. Foege is a celebrated epidemiologist and physician who played a leading role in many of the important public health campaigns of the past half-century, including efforts to eradicate smallpox and to control onchocerciasis (the cause of river blindness) and guinea worm.

8 Oct 2012

NPR's 'Morning Edition' reports on increasing number of polio cases in Nigeria

NPR's "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep on Monday interviewed reporter Jason Beaubien, who is traveling in northern Nigeria, about the country's increase in polio cases this year. Beaubien discussed myths and fears surrounding polio vaccination in Nigeria, including beliefs that the immunization will sterilize children, but also said one of the most encouraging things ... is that the religious leaders in northern Nigeria are now really united.

3 Oct 2012

News outlets examine challenges to fighting polio in Pakistan, Nigeria

In Pakistan, one of only three nations worldwide where polio remains endemic, "rumors and conspiracy theories about the vaccine ... have helped the country maintain its unenviable status," recording 91 cases of the disease in 2011, Agence France-Presse reports.

2 Oct 2012

World leaders unite behind global polio eradication efforts at U.N. General Assembly

Political leaders, donor representatives, and medical experts on Thursday met on the sidelines of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session "to celebrate polio eradication efforts that have already reduced the incidence of the crippling and potentially fatal disease by 99 percent around the globe," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Sep 2012

World working together to end polio

In a post on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, foundation Co-Chair Bill Gates writes about traveling to New York this week to deliver a speech to the U.N. on polio eradication, one of the top five global health priorities as described by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

27 Sep 2012

Scientists identify unique molecular signature in iPSCs that show promise in regenerative medicine

Salk scientists have identified a unique molecular signature in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), "reprogrammed" cells that show great promise in regenerative medicine thanks to their ability to generate a range of body tissues.

20 Sep 2012

WHO says Nigeria not on track to turn back polio despite having tools, capacity

"The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said Nigeria was not on track in the effort to eradicate wild polio virus before the end of December this year," Leadership/AllAfrica.com reports.

13 Sep 2012

Pakistan official says progress made in vaccinating thousands of children against polio in tribal area

"Pakistan Tuesday claimed progress in vaccinating thousands of children against polio in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan which had been inaccessible due to unrest for about three years," Agence France-Presse reports.

6 Sep 2012

VOA examines global polio eradication efforts

VOA News reports on global efforts to eradicate polio, writing, "Experts say with India now polio-free and the total number of cases at the lowest level ever, this is an opportunity to change history and eradicate the disease entirely."

5 Sep 2012

Challenges to eradicating polio in Nigeria

John Campbell, Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in his "Africa in Transition" blog that "[t]he Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) reports eight new polio cases in Nigeria, bringing the total in that country to 70 for 2012," with most of the cases occurring in the predominantly Muslim north.

1 Sep 2012

Ambassador Rice lauds India's role in fighting polio, ensuring child survival

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice on Tuesday spoke at a reception at the U.S. Embassy in India meant "to highlight the Call to Action initiative against child mortality," Zee News reports.

30 Aug 2012

Bill Gates reflects on Angola's success against polio

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, reflects on Angola's success against polio, writing, "Angola marked a full year without a new case of polio" this month, an accomplishment that serves as "the latest evidence that we are extremely close to ending polio forever."

29 Aug 2012

NYU-Poly creates ultra-sensitive biosensor to identify small single virus particles

Researchers at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) have created an ultra-sensitive biosensor capable of identifying the smallest single virus particles in solution, an advance that may revolutionize early disease detection in a point-of-care setting and shrink test result wait times from weeks to minutes.

29 Aug 2012

Taliban undermining efforts to control polio in Pakistan

"It seems public health is the latest casualty of Pakistan's fight against homegrown militants and extremist groups," Huma Yusuf, a columnist for the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, writes in this post in the New York Times' "Latitude" blog, highlighting a recent ban on polio immunization campaigns by the Taliban.

28 Aug 2012

Researchers create super-sensor that can detect even single samples of viruses

By affixing nanoscale gold spheres onto a microscopic bead of glass, researchers have created a super-sensor that can detect even single samples of the smallest known viruses. The sensor uses a peculiar behavior of light known as "whispering gallery mode," named after the famous circular gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a whisper near the wall can be heard around the gallery.

24 Aug 2012

Franchise clinics improve healthcare access for children in developing world

Franchise health clinics could substantially increase access to essential vaccinations and treatments among children living in low-income countries, regardless of their household income status, report researchers.

17 Aug 2012

CSIS report examines global polio eradication efforts

The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) on Monday released a report called "Eradicating Polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan." According to the report summary, efforts to eradicate the virus globally "have proved largely successful, in part thanks to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), launched by the international community in 1988," and "[t]he number of new cases has dropped in the past decade, even in countries where the virus has never been eradicated."

15 Aug 2012