Sunday, May 22, 2022
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Medical Countermeasures

WHO to Declare Polio Resurgence a Global Health Emergency

by Global Biodefense Staff
May 23, 2012

The World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to this week to declare polio a global health emergency. Efforts to eradicate the disease completely have stalled in recent years as demonstrated by a resurgence of the crippling disease in 2011 reported across Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, with a reported 650 cases around the world.  Funding shortfalls are now making it difficult for organizations to stamp out the disease.

“We are really on a tipping point between success and failure,” said Sona Bari, spokeswoman for the Polio Eradication Program at the World Health Organization.  Failing to stamp out the disease could mean recent gains are reversed and as many as 200,000 children crippled by polio in the next decade.

A document on polio prepared by the WHO for this week’s World Health Assembly (WHA) says, “Already in the first quarter of 2012, an insufficiency of financing required some emergency eradication activities to be scaled back in 24 at risk countries. In line with the development of the Global Polio Emergency Action Plan 2012-13, a new more efficient strategy is being examined which would combine the eradication of the residual wild poliovirus transmission with the polio endgame strategy.”

The first polio vaccine was developed in the 1950s and a second version — given orally — is credited with reducing cases by more than 99 per cent. These Oral Polio Vaccines (OPV) contain a weakened version of poliovirus, activating an immune response in the body. A vaccinated person transmits the weakened virus to others that also develop antibodies to polio, ultimately stopping transmission of poliovirus in a community.

Tags: Polio

Related Posts

Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US
Infectious Diseases

Congenital Syphilis Continues a Decade-Long Surge Across the US

April 12, 2022
New Research on Building Blocks of Poxviruses Could Lead to Antiviral Drugs
Medical Countermeasures

New Research on Building Blocks of Poxviruses Could Lead to Antiviral Drugs

April 10, 2022
Yersinia pestis
Funding News

NIH Awards $3M Grant to Albany Med for Plague Vaccine Development

April 8, 2022
Troubling Trends in Physician Vaccine Confidence in the United States
Medical Countermeasures

Troubling Trends in Physician Vaccine Confidence in the United States

April 5, 2022
Load More

Latest News

NIH to Further Invest in Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network

NIH to Further Invest in Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network

May 10, 2022

How a COVID-19 Infection Spurs Antibodies Against Common Colds

May 8, 2022
Hospitals Resilience to Extreme Events: One-Third of Staff May Be Lost During a Disaster

Hospitals Resilience to Extreme Events: One-Third of Staff May Be Lost During a Disaster

May 6, 2022
Where is Testing Needed Most During Pandemic Surges? WVU Researchers Develop Machine Learning Prediction Tools

Where is Testing Needed Most During Pandemic Surges? WVU Researchers Develop Machine Learning Prediction Tools

May 6, 2022

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC