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.

July issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The July issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial on meeting the challenges of women's health beyond reproduction;

2 Jul 2012

World must work together to take advantage of 'unique opportunity' to end polio

"Ten years after Europe was declared polio-free, the world stands tantalizingly close to eradicating the disease for good," but "the world's chances of achieving this once unthinkable goal of ending polio are being jeopardized by a funding gap of $945 million," Sir Liam Donaldson, chair of the Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, writes in this EurActiv.com opinion piece.

28 Jun 2012

Senior Taliban commander bans polio vaccination efforts in Southern region of Pakistan

"A senior Taliban commander has effectively banned polio eradication in one of the most troubled areas of the Pakistan frontier in an effort to force the U.S. to end drone strikes," the Guardian reports. "Leaflets distributed in South Waziristan on behalf of Mullah Nazir, the leader of the Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (Fata), accused health workers who administer anti-polio drops of being U.S. spies" and "questioned the sincerity of international efforts to tackle the highly infectious disease," the newspaper adds.

28 Jun 2012

Vaccine for nicotine addiction developed

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed and successfully tested in mice an innovative vaccine to treat nicotine addiction.

28 Jun 2012

Survey of home healthcare practices related to infection control

A healthy boy was infected with antibiotic-resistant bacterium that was traced to his mother's nurse's bag left in the family's car after his mother's home healthcare visit to a patient with the same infection. Although the boy's infection and the patient's infection were never DNA tested, the coincidence was remarkable.

26 Jun 2012

Oxytocin hormone plays an important role in Williams syndrome

The hormone oxytocin - often referred to as the "trust" hormone or "love hormone" for its role in stimulating emotional responses - plays an important role in Williams syndrome (WS), according to a study published June 12, 2012, in PLoS One.

23 Jun 2012

Violence is a disease that has to be treated

The Windy City is now The Wounded City, thanks to a spate of carnage that has Chicago ranked tops nationally in violence for several weeks in a row. Violent crime costs Chicago about $5.3 billion a year, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress. Homicides have risen about 35 percent compared to the same period in 2011.

22 Jun 2012

Polio eradication efforts threatened by funding shortfall, vaccination resistance in some countries, experts say

Marking the 10th anniversary since Europe was declared polio-free, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative on Wednesday released a report saying there is "a unique window of opportunity to stamp out polio for good," with the number of reported cases at historical lows, but a funding shortfall of about $1 million is threatening eradication progress, Reuters reports.

22 Jun 2012

India emerging as model for improvement in developing countries

In this NDTV opinion piece, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reflects on his recent trip to India, writing, "During my recent visit, I had a chance to see the latest progress on things that matter a lot to us: on eradicating polio and curtailing the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, for example."

21 Jun 2012

Zimbabwe launches week-long immunization campaign with funding from Japan

"Zimbabwe embarked on a massive immunization campaign against measles and polio on Monday, targeting about two million children under the age of five," VOA News reports.

20 Jun 2012

Militants ban polio vaccination in northwest Pakistan in response to U.S. drone strikes in region

"A Pakistani militant group threatened action on Saturday against anyone conducting polio vaccinations in the region where it is based, saying the health care drive was a cover for U.S. spies," Reuters reports, adding, "The group, based in North Waziristan and led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said it had banned vaccinations for as long as U.S. drone aircraft continued to make missile strikes in Pakistan" (Mujtaba, 6/16).

19 Jun 2012

Efforts to eradicate polio need international financial support

Noting that polio is endemic in only Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, and the WHO recently declared the disease a "programmatic emergency" to "galvanize work" in those three countries, a Washington Post editorial states, "A renewed campaign [against the disease] will be costly."

16 Jun 2012

Embryonic stem cells hold great promise for biomedical science

With their potential to treat a wide range of diseases and uncover fundamental processes that lead to those diseases, embryonic stem (ES) cells hold great promise for biomedical science.

14 Jun 2012

Sabin initiates novel human hookworm vaccine Phase 1 clinical trial

Today, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, in partnership with the George Washington University and the Children's National Medical Center, began vaccinating participants for a Phase 1 clinical trial of a novel human hookworm vaccine.

14 Jun 2012

If health continues to wane on G8 agenda, a serious void will be left

In this post in the Global Health Governance blog, Jenilee Guebert, director of research for the global health diplomacy program and G8 research group at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, writes that, "for the second year in a row, the amount of attention devoted to global health" at the annual G8 summit, which took place at Camp David in Maryland in May, has declined.

13 Jun 2012

Investment in global health programs protects national security, promotes economic growth

"Investment in global health programs protects our national security, promotes economic growth, and upholds humanitarian values," Jenny Eaton Dyer, executive director of Hope Through Healing Hands and a member of the Tennessee State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, writes in this opinion piece in the Tennessean.

13 Jun 2012

VOA reports on global polio vaccination challenges

"International health experts say the global campaign to eradicate polio has reached a critical stage, with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria the only countries where the crippling and potentially deadly virus is still prevalent," VOA News reports.

11 Jun 2012

InVitria receives new SBIR grant from NIAID

Ventria Bioscience today announced that its non-therapeutic products division InVitria has been awarded a new Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

6 Jun 2012

Pakistan looks to India for guidance on polio eradication efforts

"Impressed with India's successful effort in polio eradication," a nine-member Pakistani delegation on Thursday met India's health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and senior officials of the Ministry to discuss the country's polio eradication program, the Press Trust of India/Business Standard reports, noting that India achieved a polio-free status as of January.

2 Jun 2012

New method can solve 3-D structures of integral membrane proteins

A new method for rapidly solving the three-dimensional structures of a special group of proteins, known as integral membrane proteins, may speed drug discovery by providing scientists with precise targets for new therapies, according to a paper published May 20 in Nature Methods.

31 May 2012