Although the United States has been enjoying Jonas Falk's vaccine for decades, making polio an almost unheard of occurrence, India's scientists, health workers, and community outreach officials believe they are on the brink of eradicating the disease from their own country (Magnier).
Not too long ago 100,000 children in India were killed or crippled by the disease each year. Now, India sees itself as a potential superpower in the future, quickly growing economically. Popular "Incredible India" advertisement campaigns depict expensive BMWs and glitzy shopping malls, but behind the propaganda, the polio epidemic is claiming thousands of victims a year from the population of one billion. The majority of the population lives in poverty-stricken areas that provide dense living conditions, poor sanitation, entrenched superstition, and transient population. Moradabad, in western Uttar Pradesh state, is one of the worst effected polio districts in the world. Here, the virus is commonly transferred through fecal matter that enters a person's digestive system, typically through contaminated food, water, or hand-to-mouth contact (Magnier).
To confront the epidemic head-on, India poured billions of dollars into eliminating the virus and gained access to a more effective vaccine. Because of these drastic measures, the number of reported wild polio cases, the kind that most often results in paralysis, has decreased from hundreds in 2009 to just one case in 2011, none of which were in Uttar Pradesh. Furthermore, places such as the slumbs of New Delhi and Mumbai boast record-level numbers of immunizations and virus-free water samples. Lower-risk areas offer children younger than five the oral polio vaccine two or three times a year, while high risk areas such as Uttar Pradesh distribute the vaccine ten times annually (Magnier).
"It's a little premature to take out the champagne," said Lieven Desomer, UNICEF's chief polio manager.
During the polio epidemics, in some cases, especially in Europe, the polio vaccine was the only cause of polio. ... The headlines screamed "SALK'S VACCINE WORKS!" ... In 1988, the World Health Organization began a global vaccination campaign to eradicate the disease that had still continued its course of minor epidemics. Post polio was also a problem. ... Post polio was also a problem. ...
During the polio epidemics, in some cases, especially in Europe, the polio vaccine was the only cause of polio (Dove). ... The headlines screamed "SALK'S VACCINE WORKS!" ... In 1988, the World Health Organization began a global vaccination campaign to eradicate the disease that had still continued its course of minor epidemics (Global). Post polio was also a problem. ... Post polio was also a problem. ...
In Kathryn Black's touching memorial, In the Shadow of Polio, she mentions numerous times the use of an iron lung as a life savor for many Bulbar Polio patients. ... The iron lung works to prevent suffocation. ... It works by using negative pressure to squeeze the chest to expand and contract the rib cage. ... Black explains that in the aftermath of the polio epidemic, many polio patients across the country and around the world were kept alive by the iron lungs. ... The iron lung is today recognized at an icon of the polio years. ...
By 1980 the World Health Organisation certified smallpox as being eradicated. ... In 1987 the WHO turned its attentions to Polio, with similar results. By 1996 Polio was on the verge of extinction, with over 1billion children having received vaccination, and Polio cases dropping by ninety per cent as a result. ... The WHO also works with member states to establish food standards, safe hygiene and technical practice, and improved safety within the workplace. The organisation also works to create awareness of the state of the environment, and lead to reductions in pollution. ...
Fifty-four year-old Rotsten works from a one-room office in Los Angeles and runs one of the only practices in the nation devoted exclusively to dogs, cats, livestock, birds, and just about anything that is not human. ... If the vaccine to prevent and cure polio were not developed in monkeys (Murray), polio would kill or cripple thousands of children and adults in one year ("Animal"). ... Instead, smallpox has been eradicated with the help of animal research ("Animal"). ... In the nearly forty years since, polio has been eradicated in the Western Hemisphere. Scientists and laboratory anima...
To create the polio virus the researchers downloaded the genetic makeup of the polio virus off of an internet server. Now the difference between polio and most other organisms is that its genetic makeup is composed of RNA as opposed to DNA. ... Into this "juice" went the RNA and out of this "juice" came the polio virus. ... Not to mention that there are many people immunized to polio. ... One of the researchers said, "When you"re building things as small as viruses, it makes sense to use the biology that already works at that size." ...
Vaccines have eradicated multiple diseases due to the fact that they were mandatory; for instance polio and small pox. ... The small pox virus would claim the lives of over 29,000 people and has now been completely wiped out along with others like polio and CRS. ... "In India, for example, the introduction of childhood rotavirus vaccination is projected to save nearly US$ 21 million in treatment costs per year, while the projected averted treatment costs between 2011 and 2020 for pneumococcal and H. influenza type b pneumonia may be as high as US$ 1.5 billion". It is estimated that i...
Polio was a big cause of death of children and many elderly adults in the 20th century. ... Polio is transmitted through physical contact in most cases. ... Actually, that was how many people in the 20th century caught polio. Polio causes paralysis by spreading to the spinal cord. ... The "live" vaccine was a weakened form of polio, and it was given orally. ...
